


RWBY's Bizarre Adventure: Remnant Roses

by LightningLink



Category: RWBY, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2018-09-21 03:52:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 435,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9530387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningLink/pseuds/LightningLink
Summary: We were just normal kids. Or as normal as Huntsmen could be. But when the Arrow showed up in our lives, the students of Beacon started seeing just how bizarre our lives can be. And team RWBY? We're caught in the middle of it. A JoJo x RWBY crossover where the world of Remnant gains Stand powers.





	1. Arrow and Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everybody! Before we get into the main story, I want to clarify some stuff. First of all, this is mainly going to be a RWBY fic with JoJo elements. I don't intend on bringing any of the JoJo characters into this story. Second, the story diverges from the canon storyline at V2E7. It will not follow the main storyline from then on.

I wiped the brow of my forehead. No matter the time of day, the forge remained sweltering hot. The heated air made this place uncomfortable to work in. Taking off my hoodie didn't help with the heat. My black t-shirt stuck to my chest, drenched in sweat.

The brick walls were covered with layers and layers of soot, the material staining the structure black. There were no windows inviting light in, casting everything in a shadow. Old-fashioned tools rested on hooks spanning the side of a wall. Only the burning coals provided a soft glow to illuminate the ancient room.

My fingers grasped around a hammer as I looked down on the shield that lay before me. The steel heirloom had seen better days, containing several bumps and scratches from today's spar. It laid on a dirty planishing stake. I sighed. It wasn't something I liked to do, but considering that the parts of Crocea Mors were one of a kind, an Arc like me should be able to fix up the weapon.

With a grunt, I went to work, swinging the mallet over and over. Each hit made a satisfying clang against the tried and true steel of the shield. I watched as the dents were smoothed away, like brushing away the wrinkles when making a bed.

After what felt like three minutes, I tossed the hammer to the side. The shield moved up to my eye level as I inspected the weapon. Not a single dip or hill that I could see on the steel guard. It's impressive to see how quickly I can repair my shield. Only a few firm hits to fix the warping now, compared to the half hour it took when I started at Beacon.

Maybe that's a testament to my skills; being able to fight better does mean less unnecessary blows to tank up. Pyrrha would be proud.

"Hey, Jaune! You got to look at this! I've been flipping through Hunter's Weapons Monthly, and I want some advice on how to upgrade my Crescent Rose!" I grinned. Ruby Rose, fellow team leader and overall best friend. Also, huge weapons geek. She sat across from my station flipping through a magazine. Her gun scythe sat on a workbench dismantled, every piece exposed to the hot air inside the forge.

"Yeah, what do you have in mind?" I asked, walking over to her station. The young girl didn't wear her usual combat dress, instead favoring a tank top and gray sweatpants. Likely for the same reason I took off my hoodie; the unbearable heat of the room.

She looked up as I approached, a huge grin on her face. "Now in the new issue, they talked about the tests on gun barrels made out of the new type of dust steel alloys. Flipping through the article, I was thinking about switching to that type, since the tests talk about the increased effective firing range."

She sighed. "However, this particular alloy happens to be more brittle than the one I'm using right now, which would suck because I have to replace the barrel more often!" Ruby showed me the article. The engineering mumbo jumbo flew over my head as I glanced over it.

I nodded as if I read through the page. "Okay… So, what do want my opinion on?"

"Well, what do you think? Should I switch?"

"Hmm… I've always been more about reliability over performance. I don't use a gun, but if I did, I would want one that fired no matter what." My shoulders went up in a shrug. "I mean, It would suck for me if I tried to fire a round and the barrel broke."

Ruby stayed silent for a moment, thinking about what I said to her. "Hey, that's a great point! Thanks, Jaune!" She tossed the magazine onto the table. "Gonna cancel that order then!"

A chuckle left my mouth as she zoomed off somewhere, leaving nothing but rose petals behind. Ruby's like one of my younger siblings, always excited and full of energy. I bet they couldn't stay still even if their lives depended on it.

I started heading back to my station when some movement caught my eye. I turned towards the open lane Ruby left through earlier. If I focused hard enough, I can make out something small moving. Its shadow flickered in the dim light. Eh, probably a small rodent or something like that. Nothing to be worried about.

I felt the rush of wind hit me as Ruby came rushing at me. "Hey Jaune I'm back- waulgh!" The girl tripped and faceplanted. I winced as I heard the sound of bones cracking. Even though she has Aura that could fix the wound within seconds, the sound still sends shivers down my back. Memories of me falling off a bicycle appeared in my mind. That wasn't a fun experience then, and especially not now.

I rushed over to her side. "Oh my gods! Ruby, you okay there?"

She raised a thumbs up, face still planted on the ground. "I'm okay!" her muffled voice reported. "I just tripped and fell! Nothing Aura can't fix!" Ruby pushed herself into a seated position. She's right. Her face looked pristine, as if she never fell on the floor.

"Okay that's goo-" I stopped as I stared at her right ankle. There was what looked to be a scratch. It cut deep, enough for blood to run down. But that's not possible! She still has Aura! "Ruby," I started. My finger pointed towards her feet. "Your ankle."

"Huh?" She leaned over to see the wound, before paling up at the sight. Her index finger ran over the wound. Ruby brought it up to her face, rubbing the blood between her fingers. Silver eyes widened at an impossible sight. "Wha?"

My eyes followed the trail of rose petals as I looked for the culprit of her wound. They landed on the tip of an arrow that stuck out into the walkway. The arrow must've been tucked behind a workbench by a forgetful student. The arrowhead had an unusual design, with the edges following a more curly pattern. It had no center, being hollowed out. The brass-colored arrow glowed in the light of burning coals. What an intricate arrow. Who would leave it here?

Before I could will my legs to move, a tiny black humanoid hand grasped the arrowhead. What was that? It came from behind the workbench. The hand lifted it up into the air, letting it hover for a couple of seconds, before yanking it out of sight.

I sprinted towards the station the second it disappeared from sight, much to Ruby's displeasure as I stumbled over her legs. My stride became wobbly as I tried to run towards the arrowhead.

My friend called out from behind: "Jaune, what's going on?"

"Ruby, there was an arrow in your path." My hands grabbed onto something solid, stabilizing me. "You must've cut your ankle on it. But someone's taken it, and I got to see-"

I rounded the corner only to stop in my tracks. It's gone! The creature thing is gone! "No, no," I moaned, dropping to the ground. Did I miss it? My fingers fumbled around only to feel nothing. I yanked my scroll out and switched on the flashlight function. A bright white beam cut through the darkness. Did it not exist? No, it had to. There's a couple drops of blood here. But where's the creature? "Oh man, Yang's going to kill me if she finds out!"

"No, Yang won't." Ruby limped over to my position. "Don't panic, Jaune. It's only a small scratch. I already put a band-aid over it. And yeah, it's weird that my Aura won't heal the scratch. So I'll just wait it out the old fashioned way!"

"I have no idea how you could stay this calm," I stated, moving the beam of light around. "You cut yourself on an arrow that could pierce through Aura! Even it is a small scratch, a weapon like that is dangerous to have sitting around. What if someone steps on it, or somebody picks it up and-"

I felt a slender hand land on my shoulder. "Jaune, whatever it is, it's gone now. Besides, the period is almost over. Let's pack up and get back in uniform before the bell rings."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I stood back up. "No point worrying about it now. Let's go."

As we walked out of the room, she started up a conversation about Crocea Mors getting a gun upgrade. Although I did take part in the conversation, my mind wandered back to the creature. What creature would do this? To go around and scratch others with an arrow?

What a bizarre creature.

* * *

 

I leaned my head into my outstretched hands, sighing the sigh of boredom. My eyes stared at the blackboards full of papers, drawings, and diagrams, placed without any care in the world. Professor Oobleck, the teacher heading the class, ran across the stage as he fired off so many details and notes. Nobody can keep up with him, except for my brilliant partner.

A pang of pain rushed through my leg. I winced, leaning down and pulling at my stocking. The cut was still there. I rubbed the wound on my ankle, trying to soothe the aching. Maybe it was worse than I thought.

But I don't want to get the rest of the team to worry about me. I glanced up at the rest of my teammates. Weiss paid attention to Oobleck's ramble, as usual. Even after living with her for over a semester, I still can't figure out how she can keep up with Oobleck. Granted, I think I asked her before, but I must've forgotten how.

Blake on the other hand tuned out the lesson entirely, currently engrossed in her novel. Her amber eyes traveled across the page as she imagined the story in her head. I tried to hold back laughter. She thinks we don't know about her favored genre. Oh, Blake, you don't even know the half of it. We all know. Even JNPR, although that was an accident, I swear!

And Yang, well, she's giving me an unusual look. My half sister has been staring at me for some time. Did she figure out what's going on? She glanced at Oobleck's, making sure he isn't looking in our direction before leaning towards me. The blonde cupped her hands as to prevent anybody else from listening in, although Blake would probably still hear. Yang is right in front of our resident faunus.

"Ruby? Is there something wrong?" Blake's bow twitched at the question. Yang has always been protective of me. I mean, I understand why, but it sometimes feels smothering. I mean, there's nothing wrong! "You've been leaning down and rubbing your ankle for a while now."

"Yang, I'm just scratching myself," I whispered back. "Something about the uniform is just making me itchy."

"Okay." My big sister leaned back to her seat, but she still kept a lilac eye my way. I wish I can tell her about the wound, but she would probably blow it out of proportion. I mean, it's just a cut! It's not even an inch long!

Another wave of pain hit me, this time in the form of a headache. I bit my lip, trying to keep any sound from escaping my lips. If I say anything, Yang is definitely going to find out! My head placed itself on the loose sheets of paper that were my notes. My eyes peered at the clock in front of the room. Half an hour until class ends?!

Okay, Ruby, take it easy. I can make it through this. My headache isn't even that bad anymore, I can feel it going away right now. Remnant History is the last class of the day, I'll just get some painkillers once I'm done. Just focus on the ramblings of Oobleck. My focus switched between the hyperactive teacher and the clock, watching the minute hand creep closer and closer to the end of the period. Maybe I can make it. My brain lit on fire after I made that thought.

I winced as my headache came back with a vengeance. My teeth gnashed as I slumped even further into the wooden desk. The pain, it's so unbearable! My muscles feel so weak, I can't push myself back up into a seating position. All I can do is slump over on my desk as I weathered through the pain.

Yang was at my side in a manner of moments. A groan must've escaped my mouth. Within moments, she placed her hand on my forehead, before recoiling. She rubbed the sides of my neck, checking for any swelling.

"Professor!" she screamed to the classroom. I managed to focus my thoughts long enough to see the students turn to look at us. Jaune in particular looked concerned. His arms tensed on his desk as his fingers wrapped around the edge of his desk. I watched his Adam's apple quiver as if he wanted to stand up and say something to the class.

The green haired spaz stopped lecturing to look at the blonde. "It's Doctor, but what is it Ms. Xiao-Long?"

"I need to get Ruby to the nurse's office! She looks like she's sick!"

"Hmm." The doctor zipped over to me and Yang. He inspected my groaning body. "Excellent observation, Ms. Xiao-Long! Ms. Rose doesn't look too well. Maybe a bad lunch? Whatever the case is, you may leave the class with her. I'm sure that Ms. Schnee can provide you two with the notes for today." He nodded towards the studious girl before looking back at me. "Do get well soon!"

With that, Yang lifted my still in pain body onto her back and dragged me out from my seat. Despite the gibberish that was my protests, she made her way towards the exit. I can feel several eyes gaze at my sister and I. As she slipped out, she forced me to wrap my arms around her neck, before lifting me up onto her back.

Once she closed the classroom door, Yang started muttering to herself. I couldn't tell what she's saying, though. I can't hear her through my raging headache. I glanced at the hallway. Was it always his big? It felt like it extended forever off into the distance. And why was there a bright light at the end of it? Like a ray of sunshine chose to shine through on this cloudy day.

Was there someone on the end of it? I squinted. Something was on the other side. It looked like a hooded figure stood at the end of it, their cape flowing to my right. Even though I could feel the breeze hit my right cheek first. As Yang walked closer, I noticed how the cloak was white. Just like-

The figure burst away into hundreds of little pieces, flying into the air. What followed next was the worst pain I felt in my life. I screamed as my muscles spazzed out, releasing my grip on Yang's neck in the process. Gravity took over as I slipped away, landing on the concrete ground with a thump. The girl swarmed over me in an instant, her mouth making motions like she was trying to say something. But I can't hear a single word. My vision blurred. Am I going to die? I don't wanna die.

I tried moving my arm, only for the pain to continue its torment. All I can see now is a yellow figure shaking me. I can't go yet, I still need to be a Huntress. Team RWBY, what are they going to do without their leader? My vision cleared to the sight of a single ray of sun pouring down onto my face. A pale brunette woman with red highlights smiled from the clouds. The sight brought a smile to my face. Hi mom. I'm coming to see you again.

* * *

 

Everybody stayed silent after Ruby and Yang left the room. I sighed, combing my dirty blonde hair back. From the corner of my eye, I saw Pyrrha shifting in her seat uncomfortably.

"You're concerned about Ruby, Jaune?" my partner asked. Her emerald green eyes had a hint of concern for the young leader. I let out an audible sigh.

"Yeah, you can say that." I knew there was something wrong with that arrow! Maybe it was covered in something poisonous! I should've looked harder for it! "She was fine earlier when I was in the forge with her. Something's wrong with this."

As if on cue, a high pitched yell shook everybody in the class. Ruby. I shot up from my seat, as did the rest of RWBY and JNPR as we made our way towards the door.

"As much as you're concerned about the condition of your friend. " Oobleck zipped up towards us. "There's no need to disrupt class. The two girls can surely handle-"

We all ignored his pleas, slamming the door open. "Yang!" the heiress called out. "Is everything okay?"

"Over here! Come quickly!" All of us including Oobleck rushed towards the sound of her voice. Ruby couldn't be it that bad of a condition, she must've fainted or somethi-

I stopped in my tracks. Yang knelt over the prone girl, shaking her shoulders over and over. Tears ran down her face as she tried in vain to rouse her sister. The blonde looked like a mess.

But not nearly as bad as Ruby. Her pale skin was even paler than usual. Those silver eyes shared a vacant look, not registering a single thing that's going on. Her face contorted and froze into an image of terror. My eyes turned towards her wound, despite my uneasiness. Her right stocking reddened as the liquid soaked into the fabric. She must be getting worse.

Pyrrha placed a hand over her mouth in horror as she looked over my shoulder. Weiss stopped in place, too shocked to move. The rest of the group reacted similarly, muttering sounds of disbelief. I cursed myself. Why didn't I tell somebody about the injury earlier? I remembered why: there's no way to prove that it actually happened. The arrow's gone, I don't have any images of the creature. People would think I'm lying, or maybe delusional in grief! They won't believe me!

Oobleck was at the girl's side before anybody realized it. He hummed in contemplation as he looked over his student. "Ms. Xiao-Long, if you don't mind, can you take off that stocking?" The blonde girl nodded, staring blankly into nowhere. Without a single protest, she pulled the article of clothing away from her sister's foot, exposing the wound underneath.

I clamped my hand over my face as the unbearable stench overwhelmed me. My stomach was ready to hurl. Underneath the stocking, the cut festered as it spilled out pus. The flesh around her ankle glowed red in anger as if they were fighting an infection. I swore that her skin peeled in the shape of flower petals, or like the scales of a snake. Someone rubbed the base of my neck, trying to comfort me. Pyrrha, most likely.

The doctor himself didn't look fazed. "Mr. Lie, listen to me real carefully." The dark-haired boy nodded as he stepped forward. Oobleck had his fingers under Ruby's neck, checking for a pulse. "Run as fast as possible to the nurse's office and ask for Professor Peach. Tell her that we need stretchers and volunteers sent to my classroom. If she asks, tell her it's a major infection, immediate care needed. We need to get medical care from a medical doctor right now!" With a firm nod, he went off on his way. He looked over at the rest of us.

"Everyone else, aside from Ms. Xiao-Long, stand back." None of us tried to argue, doing as he asked. "One by one, you will all tell me when was the last time you saw Ms. Rose, where, and her condition at the time. The fact that there's a disease that can affect Aura users is disturbing, to say the least, and Peach will want to learn where the source is."

"The last time team RWBY saw her was after Port's class," Weiss reported. "She seemed normal."

Pyrrha stepped forwards. "Team JNPR saw her last in the morning during breakfast. Ruby didn't seem to have any problems."

"That doesn't paint as good as a picture as I'd hope." Oobleck pushed his glasses up and hummed. I felt my fist clench. "Try narrowing it down. One of you have to remember-"

"I was with Ruby in the forges, right before your class," I interrupted. No! Me and my stupid mouth! Everybody turned to look at me. They won't believe me! Should I lie? I swallowed. "... I remember her complaining about a small cut, but I thought she accidentally sliced one of her fingertips or something, considering she works with Crescent Rose. But I guess something caught her ankle and cut her." It's for the best. They can't find the arrow or the creature anyways. This was the next best step.

"Thank you, Mr. Arc." The professor got back up to his feet. "That might help us figure out what's going on. Anybody else?" No one said anything. "That might be our best lead at the moment," he murmured.

"Everybody make way!" Professor Peach walked into the crowd, followed closely by two assistants carrying a stretcher and Ren. The dark skinned nurse wore blue tight fitting medical scrubs with a white lab jacket over them. The jacket remained unbuttoned. "I need to assess the damage. Where's the patient?"

"Right here, Peach." Oobleck gestured to the brunette on the ground. He corralled away the rest of the students as he guided the catatonic Yang back. "Everybody, back away from Ms. Rose! Let the professionals do their work!"

Peach strapped some surgical gloves on her hands before leaning down. "Oobleck, give me the situation."

"I sent the girl down to your office for a headache when she collapsed here." The tone of his voice was slower, more serious. I've never heard him like this before. "Ms. Rose still has a pulse, although her condition isn't too good. The infection came from a cut, most likely from something in the forges. The disease worked fast, within twenty to thirty minutes since the initial wound."

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like any disease that I've ever heard of." With a q-tip, she scooped up a generous dollop of the white milky fluid and sealed it in a bag. "Reggie, take the pus sample and get it analyzed! If we don't know what she's infected with, we can't do anything!" The assistant nodded, snatching the sample before running back to the office. "Lye, ready the stretcher! The second I get this wound cleaned up, we're getting her to some care!"

As she made that declaration, Professor Peach started wiping away the disgusting pus. "Now to see the severity of the-" She paused for a moment before making a confused hum. "Oobleck, you said that there was a cut, right?"

"Roughly an inch long on the ankle. I saw it, the group saw it." Oobleck stepped towards his peer. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Her Aura must've healed it, because it's gone." She revealed the limb to the rest of the group. Peach is right! The cut's not there! The ankle still looks worse for the wear, but it's like the cut never happened. "The disease must've delayed her Aura response somehow. Still impossible with what we know about diseases, but it might be a new strain we haven't heard if before. Just in case, we're still bringing her under watch. The last thing we need to find out is that the disease is contagious."

"Which means anybody who's touched her right now is going into quarantine. So…" She glanced through the crowd, figuring out who was closest. "... Ms. Xiao-Long, Oobleck, you two were closest, you must come with me. Did anybody else touch her?" The rest of RWBYJNPR shook their heads. "Good. Take a vitamin kiddos, get your immune system boosted. You don't want to get sick, do you?" The nurse chuckled to herself. "But enough from me. Let's get this girl out of here."

I sighed as I watched Ruby be carried to the nurse's office. Was what I did right? Is she going to be okay? The rest of my team stood behind me as I thought about the events that led to this. I've told another lie. One more lie that my whole life rests on. Before, my lies were for my own benefit. I wanted to be a hero, and built a house of cards to fulfill that dream. This is another one? Something that will haunt me for the rest of my life? I prayed to whatever higher being out there it isn't so.

* * *

 

The first thing that I remember seeing is a whirl of white. Was this it? Am I in heaven? It seemed really gloomy for the afterlife. I stretched my hand towards the light, only to feel tiny needles stinging me. My arm drew back to see little snowflakes melt away on my skin. The tips of my fingers grew warm and red in the weather. My head pulled up as I glanced at my ankle. It was like it was never cut.

I can't be dead. This place feels so real. I pushed against the ground, only to find the chill of the snow bite into my uncovered hands. Bits of the fluffy white powder slid down my short brunette hair as I sat up. I know that I'm not dead, so where am I?

My body shivered as I got up to my feet. I looked down to see myself in the tank top and sweatpants outfit I wore back in the forges. No wonder I'm cold, I didn't cover myself up! I rubbed my bare arms, shivering as I walked through the freezing snow.

"Hello?" I called out. Nothing answered back. My chest started rising and lowering faster and faster. Maybe I am dead, and this is hell. No one to talk to, nothing to do, just walk through a snowy plain without any winter clothes. What did I do to deserve this?

As I occupied myself in these thoughts, I heard something playing. Something soft and soothing, like an old lullaby long forgotten. I perked up. Maybe there is someone here, and they can tell me what's going on! My footsteps quickened as I followed the sound. "Hello? I'm lost! Can you tell me where I am?"

The sound became louder, causing me to stop. Now I remember what that sound was. It's the strumming of a Spanish guitar. Mom… she owned a Spanish guitar. When I was young, she would play and sing to me every night before bed. Tears started sliding down my face. Now this place was mocking me, pulling out all my bad memories and forcing me to face them.

"Red like roses-" I flinched at the sound. That was a human singing, a woman from the sounds of it. Somebody must be there! I threw caution to the wind, running towards the singing.

"Please, who are you? What's going on?"

"-fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest." The snowstorm stopped, disappearing into nothing. My eyes took in the area. A forest rested behind me, thick with vegetation. It's a wonder that I didn't run into any of the trees. My eyes landed in front of me. I stood in a snowy cliffside. The skies were dark, giving off an ominous feeling. A single square stone sat close to the edge if the cliff.

This is Mom's grave site. Somehow, I ended up in Patch. But why? I was in Beacon this morning! How did I end up here?

"White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test, " the voice continued. In front of me, a white hooded figure appeared out of the gravestone. It's the same figure as in the hallway!

"Mom? Is that you?" I walked towards the figure. Underneath her hood, I could make out a small smile, one that never left my mother's face. "Yo-you're alive?" I couldn't hold back the tears, letting them freely run down my face. "It's been so long-"

"Black the beast descends from shadows." The voice isn't coming from her. She's not singing. A growl interrupted my thoughts. Turning around, I looked back into the forest to see dozens, no, hundreds of pairs of eyes glare at us. Their telltale red glow said it all. Grimm. Somehow they managed to surround us.

My hand reached back for Crescent Rose, only to grasp empty air. I looked behind me in a panic. It wasn't where it usually is, bound to my back. Of course I don't have it! I'm not even in my combat skirt! Now I was panicking. How am I going to defend myself?

"Yellow beauty burns… gold." I looked back at the hooded figure, only to cover my eyes as she drew out her weapons. The dual knives shimmered golden, contrasting against the white and black background. Silver chains snaked up her arms, likely for long distance fighting. In my awe, I failed to realize that the guitar playing earlier all but disappeared. One Beowolf, sensing an easy snack, dived at me, fangs ready to sink into me.

It didn't take long for the music to start back again as the white cloaked figure leaped into action, flinging her daggers straight into the beast's eyes. I dropped straight down as I realized that the blades might hit me. They flew right over my head and sank straight through its skull, ending its life instantly. Moments later she pulled herself to its body, landing next to me. I let out a cry of joy. It is her!

Mom pulled out her daggers, spilling black ichor onto the pristine white snow, staining it black. The rest of the pack growled and dived towards her, ready to rip her to shreds. In response, she flipped each knife so that she held them ice pick style. Mom leaned forwards, ready to pounce at the descending horde.

A handful of Beowolves pounced at us. She responded by blurring away for a moment, before returning back to her original spot. A second later, three of the Beowolves fell to the ground limp, its foul liquids spilling out from several knife slices. Limbs fell away from their bodies in midair. My jaw popped open at her skill. So this was Mom, the hunter. One of the beasts dived at her from the side, aiming for her throat. She followed up by ducking and turning the tables on the beast, nailing her weapon into its throat first. With the beast now dead, she swung her arm over herself, releasing her blade and allowing the body to fly over. The would be ambushed tumbled into the snow.

I watched in awe as she destroyed the attacking horde. She was a white whirlwind beating against the sea of black. This whole entire time, the Spanish guitar played a fast, frantic beat, making my heart race. Her body moved like clockwork, every action using as little energy as possible as she slashed, stabbed, and swung her way through the horde. Chunks of Grimm soared through the air. Gallons of ichor stained the cliff side black as coal. Yet not a drop touched her. She remained pure in the chaos she stood in.

With a flourish, she ended her blade dance. And as soon as it began, the only Grimm remaining was the Alpha Beowolf and three of its lackeys. The alpha howled at the woman in displeasure. She responded by flicking the Grimm blood off of her blades. The beast was a lot more cautious than the rest of its pack, staying right outside of her effective range and watching, plotting.

It snarled, and the rest of the pack ran around her. Her head started back and forth, trying to keep all of them in her sights. Two of them decided to attack her back and side, leaping at her body. A jab towards her back and her left side ended their lives in a split second. The third one… wait, where did it go? I glanced around, only to realize it barreled towards me.

I screamed as I broke into a run, trying to activate my Semblance. I flopped to the ground, my superspeed failing to boost me away. My eyes darted back up to see the beast in mid-flight. At the last second, I rolled to the side, the Beowolf landing where I laid a split second ago. Mom turned back to look at me. That was her mistake. In an instant, she found jaws clamping down on her midsection. The sickening sound of cracking bones filled the area as her mouth opened in shock.

"Mom!" I yelled out. My feet dug into the ground as I pushed myself up. I'm ready to move towards her. The last Beowolf decided it wouldn't have that, leaping between me and my mom. With no other choice, I turned around and ran back, away from mom. I gave a spare glance at her to see her sink her weapons into the Alpha. It collapsed to the floor, bringing her down with it.

The snarl of the Beowolf brought back my focus to the most important matter at hand. The second I heard its growl, I threw myself to the side, allowing the monster to soar over me. With a couple of seconds bought, I looked back at the white cloaked figure. She strained as she yanked at the teeth around her torso. I need to get to her. My mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out. The weight of a giant animal knocked the air out of me.

My head slammed right into the snow, sending the fluffy stained material up into the air. I shook my skull for a second to clear my head only to meet a set of fangs going down on me. With a scream, I threw my hands into the powdery fog. They felt something furry and oily, and without a second thought, I wrapped them around that object. The fangs found themselves stopped in place. A moment later I felt my ankle get crushed under what feels like paws, bringing another scream out of me.

My vision cleared up as the snow settled, revealing the snarling monster. My hands were grasped around its neck. The monster snapped at me, using its brute strength to attempt to rip my throat out. Its breath smelled putrid, like burning oil and rotting meat. I cried as used every ounce of my strength in pushing back the monster. I watched in horror as my arm strength started to fail me, and the Beowolf's sharp teeth drew closer and closer, scratching at my neck. I swear I can see the smug look on its eyes.

All of a sudden, the malice in its eyes died out. The jaw popped right open, freeing my neck from the clamp. One golden dagger sat stuck on the top of its skull. I felt the weight leave my chest as the body was pushed off, revealing the saintly image of Mom.

She looked terrible, with giant fang marks dotting vertically across her torso. Blood still seeped through the bite marks. A small part of her right side was ripped off, leaving a ghastly image. Her cloak was all but torn to shreds, except for her hood. But despite all that, she still had a smile on her face.

"You came to save me," I whispered. "Just like in your stories." I tried to push myself up, only to cry in pain as my ankle failed to support my weight. I collapsed back to the ground. In a flash Mom was at my side, pulling me up by my armpits to a standing position. I laughed in relief. We're okay. We can go home.

I looked back towards the forest and let out a cry of defeat. We were surrounded by Beowolves. Their red eyes stared at us as they stepped closer and closer.

"Mom. Leave me here. I can't walk on my own." A tear ran down my face. "I'm only going to hold you back." She didn't respond, instead taking a step back. The music started to reach a climax. Another step back. No, there's no way to run away. I felt the breeze hit my face. Yet another step. She can't possibly be thinking of-

My body went weightless. Before I realized it, my vision shifted, from the crowd of Beowolves to the dark night sky. Gravity started to tug at us as my face turned towards the rapidly approaching waves. We're going to crash! "Moooooooooom!" I screamed as the rocks came closer and closer. I felt her shift her grip, from around my chest to around my neck.

"Don't you worry," she spoke. It was one of the first times I could hear her voice. "I'll always be there to protect you." I felt my skin peel away and fall off. The pieces of flesh were red like roses. She pulled me tighter into her embrace. "My baby."

"We're about to hit the water!" I screamed.

"And thus kindly, I scatter." The guitar ended with a flourish.

We smashed into the surface of the water, exploding into a shower of rose petals.

⇐TO BE CONTINUED=


	2. Rolling in the Deep

The next thing I remember were the sounds of beeping repeating over and over. My breathing was labored, every breath hard to perform. It's like someone's sitting on my chest. Everything was pitch black, with nothing but darkness surrounding me. Am I dead now? Did I even die in the first place?

My eyes flickered open, allowing a small sliver of light in to dispel the darkness. Tiny hands flew up to shield them as the brightness overwhelmed me. Everything's so blurry and unfocused. I blinked as the world reformed around me. Blobs of color started forming more coherent shapes, revealing a rough outline of a room. Muffled voices registered in the back of my mind. Where am I?

A groan escaped my mouth, causing the voices to drop silent. "She's awake!" one of them yelled. I heard footsteps over the repeated beeping noises, coming towards me. As the clicking of footsteps approached, movement to my right caught my attention. The rough shape of a woman leaned over my laying body. A familiar white cloak shrouded her, leaving only her smile visible. Did we survive the fall? Mom brought me here, right? She looks okay. How is she still standing?

"Mom? Is that you?" I reached towards her face, slipping my hands under the cloak. I can't believe it. Is she… Has Mom returned from—?

Before I could touch her, a vibrant yellow form to my left slipped into view before gasping. The figure, I think a woman, pulled me up, and pressed my face on her chest, breaking my line of sight from Mom. There's something familiar about how she squeezes me. I felt her vibrant cascading blonde curls run down my back as the woman rested her head on my shoulders. Firm, but shaky hands combed down my hair.

"Ruby, you're okay." My vision sharpened in her grasp, revealing Yang's mane in all of its glory. I felt her tears soak into the light green patient garments draped over me. With my vision back, I took a good look at where I am. The room was small, filled to the brim with medical equipment and machines. The heart monitor to my right kept beeping in time with my heart. I tried taking a sniff, only to smell the sterile air. "After you fainted in the hallway, I saw what happened to your ankle. I was so scared of losing you, Ruby. You were about to leave me."

She squeezed even tighter, cutting off the air in my lungs. I started tapping her on the shoulder. "Yang… need air…" With a gasp of surprise, she released me. With my body out of her grasp, I took a couple of breaths, only to realize that something's in my nostrils. My fingers moved towards my nose to feel two plastic tubes. This must be where I'm getting air.

I wrapped my fingers around the objects and with a tug, started pulling them out. A sick, squishy sound accompanied the weird feeling of a plastic tube rubbing against my insides. With a final jerk, I freed the tubing from my body. I felt my face twist as I saw the clear plastic covered with a slimy substance. Ugh, gross.

Without another thought, I chucked the material to the side. With that out of the way, I looked around the room, only to realize something, or someone was missing. My head turned back towards my sister. "Yang, where's Mom?" Her face fell as I asked the question.

"What do you mean?"

"Mom, our mom, she was in the room right before you hugged me!" I sat up. Everything came back to me. "Oh man, you won't believe it! Me and mom, we were on the cliffs of Patch, fighting off this horde of Beowolves! You should've seen her! She fought with dual daggers attached to chains, and she was so fast! Almost faster than me! She—" My speech stopped as I saw the sadness appear in her eyes. I clamped my hands over my mouth.

"Oh no… We're both injured during that battle. My ankle was crushed by a Beowulf, and she had part of her side missing!" I started to throw my body out of bed, kept back by Yang as she hooked her arms under my armpits. I started to struggle in her grasp. "Let me go! I need to see if Mom's okay! She saved me from the horde, but she's hurt! I need to see if—" My eyes flickered to my right ankle. It looked perfectly fine, without any injuries whatsoever. The cut was gone. I gingerly touched the limb. It's still intact, like it was never crushed.

"Ruby," Yang started, choking back a sob. She shook her head. "You never left Beacon. You were here in the nurse's office the whole entire time. Your leg got infected from the cut. If your Aura didn't act up sooner, if the doctors didn't pump you with Aura boosters—" My sister left it at that, releasing me and turning her head towards the ground.

"No… it couldn't be a dream. I felt it; no I saw her moments ago! I know she's here, and she's alive! I have to go after her!" I leaped out of bed, running towards the door. I threw it wide open.

Only to face the imposing figures of Professors Peach and Goodwitch glaring down at me. "As great as it is to see that you're up," they stated in unison. A shiver went down my back. "We would prefer to see you resting in bed." I flinched. How they manage to say the same thing at the same time? It's like they're long lost sisters! Drooping my shoulders, I obeyed, placing me back in bed and throwing the blanket over me.

Professor Peach cleared her throat. "Now then, Ms. Rose. I'm going to explain what happened to you. When you fainted in the hallway, Oobleck found that your ankle was extremely inflamed. A significant amount of pus spilled out of the cut. He also reported that your skin was peeling away, although I couldn't find any signs of that in my checkup. You ran a bad fever, around 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Usual symptoms of a bacterial infection."

"However, your Aura managed to clear up the symptoms within a couple of hours after we brought you here. There was nothing left by last night. You yourself didn't wake up until—" She glanced at her watch. "6:23 in the morning, I suppose." The professor's eyes glanced around the room before she leaned towards me. I would lean back if I wasn't already lying on the bed. "Now, since you're awake, I would like to ask a couple of questions. We did some tests on the pus, only to come up negative on any pathogens. Same thing with your blood test."

The blonde brawler sprung up at the news. "But you just said she had an infection!"

"Yes, I did. That conclusion was before the tests came in. It is an unusual case, which is why your condition is listed as an infection. The last thing I want getting out is that there's an object within the school campus that could inflict someone like that. So I lied." Peach brushed a lock of hair away from her face. "I trust you two can keep it a secret?" We nodded.

"Good. Now onto my questions. Where were you when you got the cut?"

I tapped my cheek as I tried to recall the events of yesterday. "It was during my free period. I was in the forge, working on Crescent Rose when I felt something scrape me. I don't know what it was, but Jaune said it looked like an arrow." Peach nodded, jotting down a couple of notes. Goodwitch stayed content next to the doorframe, going through her tablet scroll.

"Can you describe how you felt before going to the nurse's office?" the nurse continued.

"Well, for a while the cut was just itchy. Then I got this huge headache during class. In the hallway, my muscles felt like they lit on fire. I was in a lot of pain."

The professor tapped a couple more buttons. "Okay. One more question. Do you still feel anything right now?" I shook my head. She made one final note before nodding. "Thank you for your time. Now, if everything goes well, we can get you out by the afternoon. However, I still expect you to get some rest. I'm going to prescribe you some sugar pills."

She pulled out an average looking pill bottle and set it on the nightstand. "Pretend they're antibiotics. Everybody in this room knows that you don't have an infection, but the rest of the school thinks otherwise. To keep people from panicking, try to take them. Besides, from what I heard about your eating habits, I don't think you would mind."

I perked up at that. "An excuse to eat candy? I don't see why not!"

She smiled. "I'm glad you agree. Now everybody else, let's step outside. We're going to need to give her some space to 'rest'." With that, everybody aside from me got up and filed out of the room. The door made a clicking noise as it closed shut.

I sighed as I adjusted my weight on the bed. So what I saw with Mom was just a fever dream. Maybe I shouldn't have brought my hopes up too much. My eyes started watering. She's still gone. For once, I wanted to see her again. Just one more time. I curled up into a ball and wrapped the blanket around me like a burrito.

A breeze picked up in the room. I looked at the window. That's strange. It's closed. How could a breeze come in? I turned my head back towards the door. My knees went weak as my eyes widened. The tears ran freely now. She's leaning on the side of the wall.

* * *

I paced around back and forth in the waiting room, clutching my blonde hair in my hands. The rest of teams RWBY and JNPR sat in their seats, watching my movements in concern. Weiss sat still, her stance uptight as she tapped her heel against the floor. Blake's skimming through one of her books, but her expression remained conflicted. My eyes flew to the clock. Six-thirty. They said that the infection died down early last night. Where was Yang with the news?

"Jaune, you should sit down," Pyrrha noted. She unlocked her fingers from her hands. "Pacing around won't bring any news of Ruby any faster."

"Yeah, fearless leader!" Nora popped up from her seat. "She got better! You don't need to worry so much!" Ren looked up and nodded, adjusting his seat. He opened his mouth to say something.

Before the quiet boy could say a word, the door to the patient rooms popped open, revealing Professors Peach and Goodwitch walking in unison. Yang followed closely behind, her normally happy mood replaced with gloom. Team RWBY shot up from their seats.

I walked towards the two teachers. "Is everything—?"

Professor Peach nodded, holding a hand up to stop me in my tracks. "Physically, she's made a full recovery. There are no signs of any infection, and it seems like she's not suffering from any aftereffects. She can leave my office in the afternoon, right before lunch." Everybody sighed in relief. She held up her hand again to stop us. "I'm not done yet." Everybody went silent. "Mentally, she might need some support from everyone."

Weiss stepped forwards at that. "... What do you mean, Professor?"

"I talked to Ms. Xiao-Long about this, and we've concluded that she might be having delusions. Apparently, Ms. Rose had a vivid fever dream, so strong that she believes her long past mother is still alive. In addition, we stood outside her door for a little bit, watching her through a camera. After referencing the footage, which was taken moments after we left, I can say that she's going to need help and time to recover." Peach punched a couple of buttons on her device, causing a nearby monitor to turn on and start projecting the footage.

The quality was fuzzy at best, but I managed to make out a person sitting on the bed. Her hair was easy to recognize. Ruby was curled up into a ball, shivering and making sobbing noises. She stared at a certain white object on the bottom of the screen leaning on a wall. It was extremely hazy, but it looked a little like a person wrapped in a cloak. The audio buzzed as Ruby spoke. "Mom? Is that you?"

Everybody stared in horror as the girl continued to have a conversation with the dead woman. "Where were you when Yang came in? Why didn't you show yourself earlier? Unless… you don't want anybody knowing that you're alive?" She leaned towards the white figure, only to flop to her side. The girl struggled to pull herself out of the blanket. "But why?"

"This might sound dumb," I started. "But she's talking to someone, right? On the bottom of the screen, there's a white figure." I lifted a finger towards the bottom part of the screen. "Doesn't it look like a person? She might be talking to that."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss rolled her eyes. "There's no white figure. Must be glare or something from your angle."

"Jaune, I don't see a white figure either," Ren noted. Everybody else made a hum of agreement. "Are you sure that there's something there?

My mouth opened to argue before I stopped. How can nobody see the figure? Granted, it's hard to tell, with the terrible quality and all that. But it's there! How can nobody else see it? It's even moving! That can't possibly be glare!

"Whatever the case might be, we still want all of you guys to give her support." Peach ended the video there. "Make sure that she doesn't undergo any more stress than needed. Keep her grounded to reality as possible. Delusions go away naturally, but not if she keeps thinking it's the truth. Ms. Xiao-Long, make sure that Ms. Rose goes to therapy. She needs to realize what's real and what's fantasy." From there Goodwitch stepped in.

"I've taken the time to excuse Ms. Rose from her classes for the rest of the week. This is to make sure she recovers and that there are no side effects of her infection. Team RWBY, I've decided that classes for you will be optional for this week. Despite that, I still recommend making sure you're still on top of academics and to provide Ms. Rose with notes. Team JNPR will continue on as normal. Are there any questions?" No one said a thing.

"Good. Team JNPR, remember class starts at eight o'clock today. Don't be late." The two professors left the waiting room, leaving the seven of us here to look at each other. The atmosphere became tenser between everybody. Learning about what happened didn't ease any of our fears. If anything, they heightened them. Everybody had a look of uncertainty on their faces.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

Yang looked up. "Exactly what Goodwitch said. You guys go back, get ready for class. We'll say here until Ruby gets released."

I swallowed. "Are you guys going to be okay? You know… after all of that?"

"We'll be fine." Her eyes glazed over as she stared at the door leading to the patient's room. "Go on ahead."

"... Okay."

* * *

I hummed as I checked myself out in the mirror. The patient garbs were thrown to the side in favor for my usual blouse and skirt. I flipped around, watching as the red and black uniform twirled in the air. Nothing looked out of place so far. I leaned in closer, checking to make sure every button and strap are in place. My outfit should be perfect for my reunion with my team. The last thing I need is Weiss complaining about me forgetting something.

I glanced into the mirror to see Mom still standing behind me. She's being shyer than her usual self, insisting on being behind me no matter where I'm standing. Despite my coaxing, she also remains stubborn on keeping the hood on and maintaining her silence. It's a little strange of her, choosing not to say anything, but one look at her smile removed all of my worries.

I let out a sound of approval. "Looks like everything's in place. Just one more thing before this outfit's complete." I turned over to the bed. Folded neatly on top of it was the pure red cloak that I love to wear. My hands gripped the treasured article of clothing, and I pulled it close to my chest. From the corner of my eye, I can see Mom looking at me.

"You know, I remember the day you gave this to me for my tenth birthday," I started, unfolding the cape. It cascaded down to its true length, beating my height by a couple of inches. "Not in person, of course. Dad handed me the cape, stating how you made it yourself. How you wanted to give it to me on my tenth birthday. I remember him tearing up as he handed me this cloak, and how I cried with him as well."

"Ever since then, I've always worn it in memory of you." In one swoop, I swung the cloak over my shoulders. "It reminded me of you and the dream you inspired in me. Ever since I heard your tales as a huntress, I wanted to follow in your footsteps. You coming back reminded me of that goal."

My deft hands fashioned the article of clothing to my dress, completing the outfit. One more glance in the mirror showed the finished product. A smile spread across my face. I looked ready to take on all of the Grimm in the world. Just like Mom used to do.

"You know, I don't really understand why you try to hide from other people." I looked at the reflection of my mom. "Dad and Yang, they miss you very much. What they wouldn't do to see you again, if only for just a moment." Her lips stayed passive, unmoving to my comment.

"But I guess after your apparent death, you didn't want to cause a scene. The frenzy that would happen if people found out that you were alive. Uncle Qrow… I don't think he could take it. So I guess I see why you decided to hide. I won't tell anybody that you're here with me." I placed my index finger on my lips. "It'll be a secret between the two of us, just like old times!" Mom smiled at that. I flipped around, trying to catch another glimpse of her in person. But just like that, she disappeared again.

How did she do that? The problem bounced around my head as I fixed up my hair. I don't recall her being able to transport. But then again, she only just revealed herself to me. Mom must've learned a bunch of new tricks if she was able to hide from everybody for that long. I let out a long hum as I walked over to the door, satisfied with my answer. It's time to meet up with the rest of my teammates. I slammed the door open, revealing the girls with surprised looks on their faces.

Blake took a couple of steps back. "Oh hi Ruby, we were kinda—"

"Team RWBY!" I squealed as I walked out of my room. They squawked in panic as I threw myself at them. We stumbled and fell to the ground. "It's great to see you guys again!"

Weiss grunted as she tried to pry me off, while Blake hissed at my iron grip. Surprisingly, Yang acted a lot more passive, half-heartedly returning my gesture. "Yeah, Ruby. We miss you too," my partner wheezed. "Now let us go, you dolt!" I complied, releasing them and rolling off. There was an awkward moment of silence as we picked ourselves off the ground. I beamed at the rest of the team, who looked a bit nervous as they brushed themselves off.

Blake coughed into her hand, grabbing my attention. "So, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel fine now. You guys don't have to dote on me." They gave me unconvinced stares. "Really guys! I'm all healed up! See?" I held up my right ankle, showing its pristine form. Our resident faunus still looked unconvinced.

"... That's not what I'm talking about." Blake glanced from side to side, before leaning in close to my ear. "It's about your mom and her being alive."

"Oh? Oooh! Blake, you don't need to know about that!" I waved away her concern, causing her to take a step back from me. "Mom's not going to bother anyone of you guys, if that's what you're asking."

"I wasn't asking about tha—" she stopped speaking when Yang and Weiss gave her an evil glare. Her bow drooped down a bit. "... Nevermind. Are you hungry? Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Hungry? I'm famished!" A growl from my stomach helped to make the point clear. "Is it lunchtime already? Well, what are we waiting for? Come on, team RWBY! To the cafeteria!" I marched out of the nurse's office with them following close by.

A simple hum came out of my mouth as I walked through the hallway with my teammates. There was a bit of whispering between the three. They must just be talking amongst themselves, about what happened earlier. As great as it is to see that they are concerned, I think that their worry is unnecessary. I turned around, causing the three to freeze in place. They looked like I was going to hurt them or something!

"What are you guys doing?" I asked them. "It's lunchtime already! Come on, if we keep talking like this, there isn't going to be anything left!"

"Yeah! You're right!" Yang bounded towards me, wrapping her arm around my throat. "I thought we were getting food together!" She shook me in play, like she usually does. But somehow, this action felt different. Like it was too nervous, too forced to be confident or casual. Eh, it's probably nothing. The monochrome duo nodded, rushing towards me and continuing towards the cafeteria.

* * *

"... You don't believe that Ruby's going crazy, right Jaune?"

"Wha?" I snapped out of my thoughts as I dropped one of my chicken nuggets. Team JNPR sat in the cafeteria, having lunch. Nora stared at me, expecting me to say something. I sat up. "What kind of question is that?"

"Well, you see… You know what? Serious Nora time." Her posture stiffened a bit as she leaned over the table. I leaned back a bit at her intensity. When was she ever like this? "... I was thinking 'bout what you said earlier, about the white figure on the TV screen." One of my eyelids twitched. I didn't expect her of all people to actually consider what I said! "A human-like object. I know for a fact I couldn't see it. In fact, nobody can see it. Except for you. You were the only person to believe, even for a second, that Ruby might be telling the truth."

"Nora, you're over thinking it!" I waved my hands as she got within a couple of inches from my face. "It's probably just some glare, like Weiss said! I might be mistaken!"

"You would be, if it wasn't for the fact I was right behind you." I paled at that. When was she behind me that morning? Nora must've moved over to my backside as everybody else was watching the screen. "There's no glare. So, you must've seen something nobody else does." Her sky blue eyes stared straight into mine. I've never seen them be so serious in my time here! What is she going to do?

"What if you can see ghosts?" I fell to the floor at the suggestion. I think Pyrrha almost choked drinking from her cup of cranberry juice, judging from her spit take. Ren raised his forearm up to cover his face from the incoming red juice.

"Nora, I thought you were in serious mode," Ren deadpanned as he scraped his fork against his plate. He flicked a bit of juice off of his hand.

"Yeah, Nora," I groaned as I pulled myself back to an upright position. "Are you joking right now?"

"No! I'm being serious for once!" She pouted at our disbelief. "Jaune, what if your Semblance is being able to see the dead? That explains everything! How you can see what nobody else can see, uh…" Nora scratched her head. "Umm… how you haven't displayed your Semblance yet?"

"Nora, don't be ridiculous," Pyrrha coughed out. She wiped the remains of the red liquid off of her chest. "Jaune hasn't used his Semblance yet because he hasn't found it yet. Besides, Semblances are tied to the manifestation of a person's soul. What are you trying to suggest, that Jaune had a near-death experience and that he can see dead people because of it?"

"... I was about to suggest he secretly has psychic powers and unlocked his Semblance through sheer willpower, but your explanation made a lot more sense." She leaned back, relaxing her muscles again. "But Jaune, consider talking to one of those weird people who can talk to the dead."

"You mean necromancers?" Ren piped up.

"Yeah! Necromancers… ooh, it even has a creepy vibe." The hyperactive redhead let out a giggle. "That's a pretty cool Semblance, if I say so myself."

I sighed as I picked up the sandwich next to my nuggets and took a bite from it. Hmm. It's a lot thicker than I thought. I looked at the bite marks. I swore a second ago the bread was more porous than this. It's sliced bread, for heaven's sake! How is it so dense now… My thoughts were interrupted by somebody slamming down their plate. The leader of team RWBY smiled at us.

"Hey guys!" Ruby slipped into her seat. In her hands was a giant pile of mashed potatoes surrounded by a ring of strawberries. The rest of her team came in seconds later, taking care to surround her. The girl in black and red took a big scoop of the mashed potatoes and shoved it into her mouth. "It's great to see you again!" Her voice was muffled with the food in her mouth. Bits of crushed potato flew back onto her plate.

"Hi Ruby!" Nora cheered, quickly piping up. "You're out of the nurse's office pretty quickly!"

"Well, my Aura kicked in just in time, so I'm more or less healed up!" She kept shoving in mashed potatoes into her mouth, a lot more than necessary. Her cheeks swelled up to a dangerous level. I gulped in fear that she might accidentally choke on the mixture. "I feel completely fine now!" She swallowed the crushed vegetable, taking it all in with one gulp. We all stared at her plate, then back at her. She just finished half of the mound! It was around six inches tall before!

"Ruby, you should be taking more time into chewing and swallowing your food," Weiss reminded her. My former crush looked less strict and more concerned than anything. "It's bad manners!"

"Oh, sorry about that, Weissy. I couldn't help myself." Ruby took another scoop out of the white mound. "It's something I don't really talk about, but I remember how Mom was a terrible cook." Is this what Professor Peach talked about? "She was the best at making cookies, but everything else she had a lot of trouble with. It was a joke in my family that the only thing she knew how to make right were mashed potatoes. Also, it was a dish I hated." She blinked when she looked at the contents on her plate. "Huh. What a coincidence."

"So you're saying you didn't even realize that you got a helping of mashed potatoes?" Ren asked.

"No, not really. I kinda just been thinking to myself, and I guess I happened to get this." She shrugged, before shoving another scoop down her throat. "Oh well."

I swear, everybody looked nervous for Ruby. She's never been so absent minded as to forget what she ordered! And how she stuffed herself with a meal that she admitted to disliking! What is going on in her head? I glanced over to the rest of her team, hoping to get something out of them. They glanced back, hastily gesturing something to me. Sweatdrops fell down their foreheads as I tried to figure out what they wanted me to do.

"Say, Ruby," I started, causing her to look up. She was gnawing on a fresh strawberry. Some of the juices ran down her chin. How did she finish the plate? I looked away for ten seconds at the most! Oh crud, she's looking at me! What do I say? What do I say? "Um, what do you think about that mission that's happening in a couple of weeks?" Nailed it! I heard everybody slap their forehead in frustration.

"The search and destroy one?" I nodded. She cooed after chewing up another strawberry, wiping the juices running down her mouth. "Oh, that one! I'm glad that I can still go, considering what just happened. It's great that Peach said I would be recovered enough to lead team RWBY through the mission!"

"But Peach insisted on me taking these antibiotics. That was our deal. I could go if I keep up with my medication. Which reminds me." A white pill bottle slammed onto the table. "I gotta take a couple of these after eating." Ruby flicked open the cap and poured a handful. I paled.

"Um, Ruby? Isn't the normal dosage a single pill after every meal?" She gave me a strange look.

"No, I think she told me that to be completely sure, to take a few of them every meal."

I leaned forwards. "So ten pills is your definition to 'a few?'" She looked down at the heap that sat in her hand.

"Yep!" Without another thought, she threw back her head, shoving all of the pills into her mouth. The sounds of crackling could be heard as she chewed up the pills. Everybody aside from Yang looked at the girl with a bit of disgust. The blonde girl looked horrified.

"Ruby." I pointed at her. "Aren't those supposed to be swallowed?"

She looked up. "They were?"

"Yeah. Isn't the actual medicine bitter?"

The girl gnawed at the pills a bit longer before shaking her head. "Nope!" She swallowed the mixture. "Oh man, I'm full!" Ruby let out a belch. "I think I'm going to go to bed now. Team RWBY, are you guys good?"

"I am now," Weiss muttered, pushing away her half-eaten plate. Blake nodded as well, pulling away reluctantly from her half eaten salmon slices.

"... I got to go to training," Pyrrha stated hastily as she got up from her seat. "I'll see you guys later!"

"Yeah, Ren and I have to follow Pyrrha!" Nora jumped up to follow her fellow redhead. "You know, for motivation! Come on Renny, we got to go!" She yanked the dark haired man off the bench and out of the door.

"Do you have somewhere to be, Jaune?" Ruby asked.

I shook my head. "You don't remember? We share a free period after lunch."

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" She slapped her forehead. "Silly me! So do you want to go back to our dorms with us?"

The three girls stared daggers at me. They all expect me to come along with them. Thanks, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren, for ditching me with team RWBY. "How can I refuse?"

"Great!" Ruby hopped out of her seat. "So come on! Let's go!"

And with that, we made our way to team RWBY's dorm room without any further incidents. When we arrived at the door, Ruby stepped forwards and pushed her room door open. "Hey Jaune?" She turned towards me. "Thanks for being here. It means a lot that you're here."

I gave her the biggest smile I could. "Well, that's what friends do. Go ahead and get well soon, Ruby." She smiled and waved at me as she walked into her dorm room. A small nudge brought the door to a close.

The second she left our sights, team RWBY exploded into chatter. "What are we doing to do?" Weiss hissed. "She completely buys into the idea that her mom's still alive!"

"I don't know what to think anymore!" Yang lowered her voice to a whisper. "I've never seen her so obsessed with Mom. She's always been good at hiding her sorrow. The last time I've seen her like this were the days after the news broke out! It never bothered her after that! So why is it bothering her now?"

"I find it strange that she's so unusually happy," Blake mentioned. She scratched the back of her hand. "It might be a bad time to mention this, but I read somewhere that people about to off themselves tend to be a lot more cheerful and happy than before. Granted, that's right after a huge depressive episode, but still—"

"Are you saying that Ruby might be suffering from depression?" Yang's eyes shifted red at the mere mention.

"No! I mean, it's possible that—" Yang took a step forwards as her partner recoiled. "I'm sorry, Yang! I don't really mean it—"

"Ruby will get over it." The girls stopped moving and turned towards me, mouths slightly agape. "I haven't known her as long as you did, Yang. But I know for a fact that Ruby's a strong person. She isn't going to let this affect her. After all, being a huntress is her dream, right?" Our conversation back during the first day came to mind. "Whether she believes her mother's dead or not doesn't change it. Ruby's going to have a hard time with this, that's a given. But I know she'll pull through."

Yang lowered her gaze for a moment, eye darting around the floor. She opened her mouth. "But Jaune—"

She wasn't able to say anything as a high-pitched scream escaped from team RWBY's room. "Ruby!" everybody exclaimed, kicking the door open without another thought.

We found Ruby sitting on the edge of Weiss' bed. Her right arm clung tight to her left bicep. She let off a nervous smile. "Hey guys."

"Ruby, what happened?" Yang asked as she stepped into the room. "We heard you screaming."

"Oh? That. Yeah, um, that's an embarrassing story." She rubbed the back of her neck with her left hand, keeping her right hand clamped down on the bicep. "I was out of it, so I sat down on Weiss' bed to recover when I saw this, this weird looking bug! Yeah! And it was really surprising and not what I expected at all, so I screamed."

Blake hummed. "I guess stuff like that happens. We might need to get our room smoked... Why are you holding onto your bicep like that?"

"Ah, oh, uh, well I guess I'm feeling self-conscious." Ruby kicked something under the bed. It kinda reminded me of thin potato chips, if they had a white side and a red side. "With you guys worried about me and all that, I kinda feel embarrassed that I'm letting some things get to me." She let out a nervous chuckle, swinging her arm around.

The brawler squinted, looking doubtful at her reasoning. I had to squint as well. Something's… off. She seemed too uptight, even after a bug scare. In fact, was Ruby scared of bugs in the first place? Didn't she live in the woods with her family? Yang sighed. "Well, you gave us quite a scare that time. We'll go outside. Remember, we'll be there if you need anything."

"Great! I'll just be in here. Resting. Like I'm supposed to be doing." She glanced up at her bunk. "Man, this thing's higher than I remember."

"You've been gone for one day, Ruby," Weiss deadpanned.

"And I just recovered from being sick, so do… your thing and leave as I climb up this bunk!" Ruby stood around, glaring at us. "Well, aren't you guys going to stand outside? Shoo!" She waved her left arm like a marionette, flicking her wrist at us. We all sigh and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind us.

"Something's wrong with her," Weiss concluded. We all nodded in agreement.

"Yep."

"Strange." What was going on with Ruby?

* * *

I opened my eyes to see the room was darkened. It must be night by now. I sat up, taking a look around team RWBY's dorm. Blake looked asleep, muttering something under her breath. Most likely a dream or something. Weiss was in a similar position, taking quick, small, rhythmic breaths. I glanced below me to find Yang facing my direction. Her eyes were closed, and soft snoring came out of her mouth. Huh. She's less noisy than before. Must've learned to control her snoring.

I lifted up my blanket, inspecting my left arm. It was attached to my body. As it should be. That would've been embarrassing if everybody barged in to see… no, must forget the memory. I shoved the sight out of my mind. Whatever happened, it managed to fix itself. No need to worry about it. I slammed my head back on my pillow, causing the bed to rock slightly. Really shouldn't be doing that. Everybody's so uptight recently. If the bed fell apart now—

Movement at the window interrupted my thoughts. I lifted my head again, peering at what it might be. Mom sat on the windowsill facing the outside world. Her white cloak draped into the room, rolling down the furniture onto the carpet. I sat up in surprise.

"Hi Mom," I whispered. "Was your day okay?" She nodded in response. "That's good. As for me, I'm not having the best time." I glanced back down. "It sucks, being stuck here in bed, waiting to recover. Being forced to pretend I'm still sick. The thing that happened to my arm— You don't want to hear about that. I've had better days. But there's one silver lining to all of this." I grabbed a part of the bed as I leaned towards the window. "You're here with me. That's all that matters. Thank you for coming back."

I heard the sounds of rustling coming from the room. I glanced at the location of the sound. Yang was now facing the other side. Whew. I thought she woke up. I guess she just adjusted herself. Wait. One of my eyebrows raised up. Is she shivering? I squinted a little closer. She is. I looked back at the window to see Mom gone. The open window let in a little breeze. That must be the issue.

With a small grunt, I reached over and grasped the handles before pulling them shut. That should help Yang sleep better. I looked over at my older sister, waiting a couple of minutes. Despite that, she's still shaking. And now, I could pick up some faint noises. It sounded like whimpering. I leaped down to the ground, landing softly. Maybe she's having a bad dream.

I remember back when I used to have bad dreams, Yang would let me stay in her bed, and we would sit quietly until sleep claimed us. She worked so hard to keep me happy during those years. Even after what happened with her mother, she tried to be a good sister for my sake. I should repay the favor. I slipped under her blankets and wrapped myself around her back. Her whimpers turned to silent crying, her breaths becoming choppy.

"It's okay, Yang. Everything is going to be fine," I cooed in her ear. She responded by wrapping her fingers around my hands. Her hands were warm to the touch, like a chimney fire during a cold night. Did I wake her up? It doesn't matter. For the rest of the night, it was just me wrapped around my sobbing older sister, keeping her warm and safe. Just like what she did when we were young.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = February 3, 2017**


	3. Down in the Mission

* * *

A groan escaped my mouth as I walked towards JNPR's dorm room. Whew, that was a long briefing! How long was that, an hour and a half maybe? My eye fell on the filled manila folder gripped in my left hand. My other hand tugged at my tie before brushing through my blonde hair. I hope I didn't forget too much information. That wouldn't be good for us tomorrow. At least I thought of grabbing a physical copy before leaving the briefing room. Much easier to make notes on them and review later. Plus, if my teammates needed a look, at least they won't have to crowd around and strain their eyes over my scroll.

My pace slowed I reached my room. Speaking of which. I slipped my free hand into a pocket inside my blazer, pulling out my device. With a single tap on the scanner, the indicator flashed green. I heard the bolt make a loud clunk as it snapped open. And in I go.

I propped the door open, only to be greeted with silence. I stared at the four beds lining the back side of the wall, light from the afternoon sun raining down on them. Nobody. Maybe they are working at their desks? I stepped in, glancing to the sides. Again, not a person in sight. Huh. I guess everybody's out. I would prefer to have somebody to talk to while I'm reviewing the folder, but oh well. What can I do? I shut the door behind me before approaching the desk right to my left, tossing the folder on the table.

The dark blue swivel chair creaked as I pulled it out from under the desk, plopping myself in its grasps. Wow, that's an improvement to the wooden chairs last semester. I can't believe some guys would just leave a set of swivel chairs on the curb! I mean— I mentally slapped myself. Now's not the time to lose your focus, Jaune! There's mission prepping to do, and only half a day to do so! I slid myself towards my desk, swinging myself into place. One tug on the cord activated my desk lamp, showering the file with a soft orange glow.

With a tired sigh, I flipped open the mission folder and read the mission details yet another time. My mind went back to the private meeting with the Headmaster a short while ago. There's a nest of Ursa and Griffins on a peninsula around sixteen kilometers away from the upper-class district. So far, the pack hasn't moved towards the seat of the government, but there is enough concern from the officials to call Beacon up. As a result, Headmaster Ozpin assigned this mission to teams RWBY and JNPR. 'An eight-person squad can handle this low-risk pod of Grimm,' he said to us during the meeting. I hope he's right.

I flipped past the typed up description, peering at a detailed map of the area below several photos of the area from a bird's eye view. Several marker scribbles lined each of the images, making note of potential nesting areas, vantage points, and other useful places. I lifted one of them up, an image of a cliffside. I squinted at my messy writing, trying to make out the words. ' _Evacuation Zone.'_ For what is supposed to be rocky terrain, there's a surprising amount of flowers growing on top of it. The patches of white flora contrasted against the dull orange-red rocks.

My mind went back to RWBY's team leader as I picked up another photo. It's been two weeks since the incident. When I saw her at the meeting, it looked like Ruby's back to her old, normal self. At the same time, that arrow has changed her in a way. Yang kept whispering to my team about how Ruby would talk to some invisible person every night. Whenever I'm with Ruby, I notice how she has a lot of mood swings, going from happy to somber and quiet in a single conversation.

Coincidentally, she's more chirpy whenever she mentions her mom or talked about how the dead woman met up with her. Nobody's taking that well. The other girls talked about how Ruby's been going to therapy for her chats, but I guess it's not working. At this point, I don't think that anything the therapist says can change her mind about her mother's survival. Other than that, I don't notice anything else wrong with her. And that's concerning.

The image started blurring before my eyes. I tried focusing on it again. No matter what I try, I just can't focus. Another sigh escaped my lips. I need to take a break. My legs pressed against the legs of my desk, rolling me towards the center of the room. I leaned back, bringing me close to falling off. How did everybody find an excuse to be out of the room? With Pyrrha, she at least messaged me about how she needed to get something from the library. But Nora and Ren? Where did they go off to? Man, I could use someone to just chat with.

As if the gods answered my call, I heard somebody rapping on my door. I snapped out of my seat, a smile growing on my face. Maybe one of my teammates is back from whatever they're doing. I bounded towards the door, and threw it wide open, expecting somebody from team JNPR on the other side.

My smile dropped as the door opened to reveal the tiny girl in black and red, who flinched back in surprise at the forceful opening. I stared at my fellow team leader standing behind the doorframe, creating an awkward silence. "Oh. Hi, Ruby. Didn't expect you to be here."

The girl nodded, kicking her feet at the ground. Her silver eyes flickered to my face. "Hey Jaune," she started, her voice a bit muted. "How're you doing?"

"Fine." The silence afterward unnerved me. Maybe her teammates are out as well? "Do… do you want to come in? I need some time off from looking through the assignment details." Her eyes lit up.

"Really? Thanks Jaune!" The girl skipped into my room, plopping down on my bed. I pushed my door closed as she made herself at home. "Nobody was in my room when I came back, so I decided to hang out at yours for awhile. So what do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I guess since we're team leaders, we should start with the usual mission stuff." I reclined on my swivel chair, grabbing the map on my desk and showing it to her. "How do you think we should split up the work? There's two nests that were found: the Griffin one in the middle of the peninsula, and the Ursa one closer to the tip. I was thinking that your team should take on the Griffins. Weiss and Yang are ideal against aerial Grimm, and you guys did take down that Nevermore back during Initiation. JNPR's more suited to fighting on the ground, so we'll take on the Ursai."

She stared out of the window as if looking at somebody. Did she get distracted already? My eyes drifted towards whatever she's looking at. I thought I saw something white drift out of my view. What is she looking at? "Hey, Ruby?" I waved my hand over her eyes, snapping her back to reality. The young leader looked back at me in confusion.

"Huh? Oh yeah, my team can take down the Griffins. But there might be a problem on your end. Ursai tend to spread out in their own territory, so JNPR's going to have to split up." Ruby rested her chin on her wrist. "That wouldn't be a problem with Nora and Pyrrha, but you and Ren are strictly one-on-one fighters. Splitting up would be a terrible idea if a group runs into either you or Ren."

"Yeah, I know, so I was thinking about splitting up the tip into three sections." I poked at the markings I made. "Nora, as the best area control person, will take the position closest to team RWBY. Pyrrha will take the middle section here, serving as the main damage dealer, as well as serving as the scalpel to root out the nest once she finds it. Ren and I will team up and take the corner and force any stray Grimm into Pyrrha's kill zone. I can defend Ren from flank attacks and he can use Stormflower to force any Grimm back. Plus, we get the benefit of a cliff behind us, so we should only expect Grimm to come out in one direction."

"The cliff side," she whispered. Her eyes glazed for a moment as she stared at the map, puckering her mouth. It didn't last for more than a couple of seconds before she shook herself. Ruby gazed back up to me, sadness in her eyes. "Sorry about that. Just remembering something that happened."

My breath hitched. "You mean what happened in 'the dream?'" She nodded, her gaze flickering toward her hands.

"People keep telling me that what happened isn't real, that Mom is still dead, when I know for a fact that she's still out there. She's still keeping watch over me. I know, I've been talking with her ever since I woke up in the nurse's office. But it's frustrating to hear people deny it. They think that I'm going insane." Her hands balled into a fist. "But I'm not!" She slammed them on my mattress, causing it to bounce a bit.

"The dream. I'm starting to think that it's just that, a dream. I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that it's probably not real. But to me, it felt so real! Every single thing that happened just resonates with me! It felt right!" She glanced over at me with desperate eyes. "You don't think that I'm insane, do you? You trust me when I say that my mom's still alive?" Her eyes widened as she said her question. Ruby looked like a puppy who just got kicked. I shook as I struggled to resist her sad stare.

I rubbed my eyes, breaking eye contact with her. I let out a long sigh. How do I answer this without provoking her? It can't be possible, but after what I've seen… I don't know anymore. "Ruby, you've been my best friend ever since we met up in that courtyard." I looked out of the window. "I remember how you were covered in soot, and how Weiss went crazy over the crater that you made. I didn't think for a moment I would be friends with you, the klutz who blew up the school courtyard on her first day."

Ruby frowned at my comment. "What are you trying to—"

"Let me continue. Throughout Beacon, I made a bunch of new friends along the way. But you're the only one who stuck with me through thick and thin. Team JNPR, they have my back, but they had moments where they doubted me. Even Pyrrha, my partner, had moments when she lost her confidence in me, like when I was still being bullied by Cardin. This is the girl who trained me to become a better Hunter, a better fighter. The girl that I trust with my life." I stopped for a moment, recollecting my thoughts.

"But you, for better or worse, always stuck by my side. You always trusted me, even when I broke that trust. You kept reaching out to me when I didn't deserve it. Whenever I was down, you gave me some advice to deal with my problems. Maybe it's because of your optimism, maybe it's because that's just the way who are, but you were always there to help me become a better person." I took in a long breath.

"I think I'm just rambling at this point, so let me say this: I trust you know what you're doing, just like you've always trusted me. I don't know if your mother's alive, nor can I hope to prove otherwise. After what I've seen, I'm not too sure. But as your friend, I will take your word for it."

She smiled at the response. "Thanks, Jaune. It means so much to me that you believe in me." I didn't say a word. Ruby might possibly be telling more of the truth than she realizes. My eyes glanced through the window. The white fabric I saw earlier had disappeared from sight. Maybe she is talking to her mom. I don't think she's lying about that. Nora's words came back to mind. But if what she said was true, and that I could see ghosts— How would Ruby react? What would she do if she realizes she's seeing her mom's ghost?

"Hey, Jaune?" I looked up at her, her question breaking me out of my thoughts. "Going off-topic, don't you play the guitar?"

"Oh, that old thing. Yeah, but I think you remember my past performances." I let out a chuckle, rubbing the back of my head as blood rushed to my cheeks. "I'm not exactly a master at it. Why do you ask?"

Ruby sat up on the bed. Now it's her turn to let out a nervous laugh. "Well, there's this tune in my head that I remember from my dream. A tune played using the Spanish guitar. I've been kinda obsessed with figuring out where it came from." The girl tapped her index fingers together. "I mean, you know how to play a bit of the guitar, so I was wondering if you can try to transcribe it for me."

"… Okay, I guess I have some spare time. I think we have enough mission prepping. Could you move over?" She complied with my request, hopping off and stepping away. I got down on my knees as I rummaged under my bed, my hands swiping at nothing but air. "Where is it? I know I kept it in here— aha!" My fingers wrapped around a handle covered in leather. With a firm tug, a black leather guitar case slid out. My deft fingers popped it open, revealing a simple wooden acoustic guitar inside.

"I don't know a lot about music theory," I admitted, pulling the instrument from its casing. "Just enough to write some basic songs. You're going to have to sing the note as best as possible." I twisted some of the knobs, strumming once in a while to check my tuning. "It's going to be a long and boring process, but we'll just have to manage. How good is your singing voice?"

"Uh, not so good." She fidgeted in place, looking uncomfortable. "I think the best way Yang could describe my singing is the sound of a dying Grimm on helium."

Oh. Okay then. "… Yeah, that's fine. As long as you can hit the general note. I'll just keep playing notes until we hit the right one." My eyes glanced at the clock. "It's around 1:20 right now, so let's start!" I'm screaming internally as I heard her first note. Ruby wasn't kidding. I winced. This is not going to be fun.

* * *

A quiet hum left my throat as I walked through the hallways of the student dormitory. Normally it would be the last place any Headmaster would want to be caught at. Accusations of teacher-student affairs were becoming all too common these days. However, I like to keep in touch with my students. After all, in a few scant years, they will become my peers. Why not make lifelong acquaintances as soon as possible? And besides, students like to see a more down to earth kind of authority figure, someone who's willing to take the time to see to their needs personally.

I nodded to the few who passed me in my walk, They, in turn, gave whispers of acknowledgment. A smile climbed across my face. Another reason I like being around the students. Even if it's out of respect, it helps me stay grounded in my work, to be able to see that I have an effect on people's lives. Too many Huntsmen and Huntresses forget their purpose, that they have a role to play in the world after years and years of tragedy. These children remind me why I'm still teaching at Beacon. It helped boost my confidence in my ability to lead them, that I'm doing the right thing. I am still a guardian to these people, no matter how they think of me.

Every step I made was followed by the distinct tap of my cane. I took a glance at my watch. Almost 6:00. I'll finish up this trip around the dormitories before heading back to complete more paperwork. One of the doors is open, with one of team CRDL standing on the door frame. I believe it was Dove Bronzewing, if I remember their names correctly. He smiled and waved at me. I nodded my head in his direction as I passed him. "Mr. Bronzewing."

To think of the potential that these students have realized in their two semesters here! Even team CRDL, who've I heard gained an infamous reputation in the past semester, grew to become better people, better teammates, and most importantly, better Huntsmen. I took a sip from my mug, letting the rich coffee soothe my taste buds. And to think that the person who organized this change is none other than Jaune Arc.

Ah, Mr. Arc. The name resonated in my head. One of the few individuals that had mountains of potential. He might not be strong physically, but his mental strength, willpower, and his sheer tenacity proved to sway my decision. To attempt and try to cheat his way into the school, with no Aura or training, now that impressed me. Few people would go that far for a dream, especially one they haven't trained for. I can see it in his eyes during his interview.

I remember it like it was yesterday. The boy sat in front of a mass-produced desk in a cheap plastic chair, with me behind it. His answers were complete garbage, all lies and cover up stories. I knew that from the moment he submitted his application. And his voice was shaky, unsure, submissive. But I remember the answer to one question. It was about why they wanted to join Beacon. One of the biggest deciding factors in determining personality, values, and whatnot. It also helped me with deciding how to assign teams later on, which is nice.

The answer I expected was a brag about accomplishments, strength, smartness. It could also be an emotional plea to the idea of becoming a Hunter. I've seen many of those kinds of people. But Mr. Arc, he decided to say that he wanted to become more than himself.

When I asked why, he told me about his family lineage, one I am more than knowledgeable in. But in his eyes, I saw the admiration he showed to his family name, the shame of not living up to the family name. His eyes revealed a simple wish: to live not for himself and his dreams, but for others. He might not be good with words, but he's honest with his heart. I've expected as much from an Arc. Despite all of that, I made the decision to bring him in over several arguments with Glynda.

He has yet to disappoint me. His growth as a Hunter is beyond impressive. While he's still considered lower tier in terms of Hunter skill, his growth from zero combat experience to now exceeded my expectations. In terms of leadership, he has blossomed to be capable. I've seen the initial plans he submitted to me about tomorrow's mission. Strong tactical sense for a first-year student.

Speaking of which, I glanced at a simple wooden door coming up. This is his team's dorm room. He came in my office for a briefing this morning. As much as I want to pop in for a surprise visit, I think the other students won't appreciate any kind of favoritism. So, I walked pass by, not expecting much. A couple of steps later, I jerked up when I heard a terrible wail coming from inside their dorm. I froze in my tracked, pivoting towards the door. Was that an attempt at singing? That sounded like the wail of a Nevermore who smashed into a glass window. I chuckled at the memory. Never gets old, even after so many years.

But the screech sounded like Ms. Rose. Didn't she go to the nurse's office a couple of weeks ago? I found it interesting that she managed to recover in time for the mission. Even with our modern medical procedures, she should still be in bed. It's a miracle within itself that she's up and running. Reminds me of days long past… I waved the thought aside. What's important is the present.

What is she doing inside JNPR's room? I looked at the coffee remaining in my mug. The surface of the brew reached the halfway point in the mug. It's a shame. I'll savor it next time. With a single swig, I chugged down the rest of the brew and wiped the rim of the glass. It hasn't been a second, and I already miss the sweet aroma. I placed the mug on the door frame and placed my ear on top, listening in.

"Ruby, are you sure that note sounded like that?" The voice sounded like Mr. Arc. "It kinda sounds off compared to the rest of the song."

"No, no! I'm sure it sounded like that! The note lingered for a bit, just like that!" And that is Ms. Rose.

"Really? Okay, so maybe this?" He strummed a note that resembled the off-key note Ms. Rose sang.

"It was a bit higher than that!"

"How about this?" Another note was plucked, a couple of keys higher than the previous one.

"Hmm… maybe like a half note higher?"

Yet another note, soon accompanied by her cheering. "Yeah! That's the one!" Now, what were they doing in there? My curiosity peaked to new heights. Were they composing a song? Well, it's time to find out.

I removed the cup from the door and rapped it on the wooden door. The conversation became a lot more audible from outside.

"Who was that?" Ruby asked.

"Probably one of my teammates. I guess we'll pack it up, just let me get the door—" The blonde boy pulled the door open, only for his eyes to widen at the sight of me. "Professor Ozpin?!"

"Good evening, Mr. Arc," I greeted. From the corner of my eye, I noted an acoustic guitar laying on the bed. I nodded at the girl inside. "And good evening to you, Ms. Rose. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I heard something going on in here, and my curiosity couldn't help it. Are you composing something, by any chance?"

"Yes sir, Ruby just wanted me to transcribe something she heard." Mr. Arc started stammering. "If we're being too loud, we can stop—"

"There's no need for that." I held up his hand, interrupting his sentence. "If anything, I'm interested in what you're working on." I gestured towards the room. "May I come in?"

"Yes! Sure!" The blonde boy stepped to the side, allowing me to stride in.

"So, Mr. Arc, Ms. Rose." I leaned on one of the sides of the walls. "How much of it do you have done so far?"

"Well, I think we managed to have roughly half of it," Jaune started, plopping down onto his chair. "We've been working on it for quite some time." The boy grabbed and fiddled around with his guitar. "Just to let you know, it's still a work in progress."

I shifted my weight. "Well, I don't mind that. Just play what you have right now."

"Okay." He strummed the guitar a couple of times before going into the main song. It was fairly simple in terms of composition. There's little usage of proper chords, instead focusing on playing single notes for dramatic effect. The performance was slow and methodical, each note carefully plucked. There was a hint of wistfulness, almost melancholic. Like a yearning for something, or someone. It wasn't so bad so far. To think they managed to get this much in this amount of time, from the singing of a tone-deaf person, no less.

Mr. Arc paused for a moment before switching gears, playing a faster beat. The performance was more frantic, more action paced, like a Huntress in combat. The sadness of the previous part was gone, replaced with feelings of excitement, movement, energy. There's something familiar about this piece. I don't recall hearing it before, but it still manages to catch the core emotions of some person. Maybe it was a former student. Who was it? In the background, Ms. Rose smiled and rocked back and forth with the music. Ah. Now I remember.

And just as it reached a crescendo, Jaune stopped, slapping his hand on the strings to stop the vibrations. "That's it. That's all we have so far," he stated, putting the guitar to his side. I have a polite applause to the boy, tapping my mug against my cane.

"That was a marvelous performance," I praised. He beamed at the compliment. "Even though you said it was a work in progress, I can't help but applaud you for how well you played it. And you said that the song is Ms. Rose's?" He nodded. "If so, I have to applaud you as well, dear." I smiled at the girl on the bed. "Not a lot of songs these days can evoke emotion so well. What did you intend on naming the song?"

"Oh, um, I didn't really get the chance to name it." She chuckled. "It was something just bouncing around in my head."

"Well, it should have a name. Names give meaning to everything. From us Remnans to every object we know of, a name gives purpose and meaning to something that would otherwise be forgotten."

"Huh, I never really thought of it that way." She hummed for a moment, kicking her feet on the side of the mattress. Ms. Rose perked up as an idea hit her. "How about… Red Like Roses?"

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful song," I smiled. I know the white figure floating behind her had a crescent grin as well. I got back up to a standing position, looking at my watch. "Well, I have to take my leave now. I still have my duties to fulfill." I started out of the door, before stopping and looking back. "Oh, and you two? Do show me Red Like Roses when you're done. I'm interested in hearing how it ends." They nodded. The ghostly figure disappeared from sight. "Until then, have a good evening."

I continued my walk down the dormitory hallways. Now that was an interesting turn of events. I read the reports of Ms. Rose's hallucinations, how she's been imagining that Summer Rose is still alive. They're both right and wrong, in a sense. But to think the arrow chose her… that means something's going on with Salem. What is she plotting this time? To think somebody would go so far as to awaken more users… I might need to get back into the game. Stand back up for the sake of the Remnan race. I swung my cane back and forth, humming the slow opening verse of Summer's song as I made my way back to my office.

* * *

Before we knew it, the day of the mission arrived. I stood with teams RWBY and JNPR as we waited for the Bullheads to pick us up, checking Crocea Mors' slicing edge. My team was their usual selves. Nora bounced around Ren as she loaded grenade shells into Magnhild, counting them as they slid in. That sent a shiver down my spine. The boy and green ignored her antics, instead taking a lotus seating position and meditating. Pyrrha looked down the edge of Milo, checking the weapon for imperfections. Her eyes remained focused, ready for the mission to come.

Team RWBY in comparison was on edge. Weiss loaded her rapier with various Dust vials. However, every moment was stiffer than usual. One time she fumbled placing a red Dust vial in, nearly shrieking as she snatched it in mid-air. Blake kept her weapons on her back, twirling the ribbon tied to the handle of the katana in her fingers. Her eyes flickered around in time with her bow. The brawler focused on loading her shotgun gauntlets, loading each clip carefully instead of slapping them in. They all gave wary glances once in awhile to their team leader.

Ruby doesn't seem to notice her teammates staring at her in concern, humming Red Like Roses as she slapped the magazine into Crescent Rose. With a firm tap, she chambered a bullet before unfolding the weapon. The sniper rifle clicked as the scythe blade popped out. The silver metal contrasted against the chrome red body, gleaming at anything that would stand in its way. She ran a finger down the side of the blade. "We're going to be hunting soon," Ruby cooed at the gun scythe. "Just you wait, my sweetheart."

I resisted the urge to jerk back in fear. The scene would be more creepy if Ruby's affection towards her scythe wasn't well known amongst her friends. If anything, I find it kinda quirky. But then again, don't we all have our quirks? Helps define us as individuals. I took a step forward, turning to face the sister teams.

"So we remember the plan, right?" I asked the group, checking once more that Crocea Mors is ready for battle before sheathing it. They nodded.

"It's just like you said. RWBY takes the Griffin nest, while JNPR faces the Ursa nest." Ruby recited it like it was nothing. "Service in the peninsula is going to be spotty at best due to a malfunctioning CCT repeater, so I'll serve as a messenger once she takes down the Griffin nest. The rest of team RWBY will look for and replace the repeater in order to bring service back."

"And we know our positions in dealing with the Ursai!" Nora piped up, saluting me for no apparent reason. "Don't worry about us, fearless leader! The Ursai are as good as dead!"

I nodded. "That's good." A pair of whooshing noises cut into the air, stopping everybody from speaking any further. My eyes flew towards the roaring vehicles. "And there's our ride!" I shouted, watching as the two Bullheads landed. "Happy hunting to you, team RWBY!"

"And to you too!" Ruby waved as her team piled into their Bullhead. "We'll see you down in Forever Fall!"

We waved at each other as team JNPR climbed into our own Bullhead. The last things we saw of each other were our grinning faces as the doors slammed shut. I strapped into the Bullhead and took a long breath in. This is going to be a rough ride.

"Jaune?" My partner finished fastening her seat belts and looked at me. "Do you want to take some motion sickness medication? I have some right here." She pulled out a white pill bottle and shook it around, gaining my attention.

I shook my head. "Normally I would, but not today. We're only traveling ten minutes away at most. The pills will take too long for them to be effective. Besides, they make me drowsy anyways." I took in another breath. The Bullhead hasn't even launched off yet, and I could feel my stomach churning. "Last thing I need when I'm fighting Grimm." Everyone on in my team gave me a wary look. "What? Don't worry, I didn't eat anything before this! The worst that could happen is dry heaving and nausea!" They relaxed a little at that.

My stomach dropped as the Bullhead took off. My head started to spin as the ship stopped flying up and started moving to our drop off location. Uh, this is not going well. "Guys, talk to me," I gagged. "Say something, anything to keep my mind off of my nausea."

"What was Ruby doing in our room yesterday?" Ren piped up.

"You're already hitting me with the hard questions?" I sighed. She did slip out right as the rest of JNPR came back. "She had a song stuck in her head, and wanted me to transcribe it on paper."

"Oh, that's it?" Nora asked.

"We also talked about today's mission, but yeah, that's the gist of it." My stomach protested, threatening to send the empty contents up my throat. I curled down into a ball, moaning. Pyrrha rubbed the back of my neck. It helps a little, but not by much. "Something else, talk to me about something else." I flicked my wrist in a circular pattern, gesturing to them to keep talking.

"... Do you think we might find something awesome and cool in the Forever Forest?" Nora hopped in her seat. "Oh wait! Isn't that the place where we got the red sap for Professor Peach? Hey Jaune, once we're done, do you think that we can go around and tap more trees? I might need another batch to replace the missing syrup that I didn't totally consume for myself." Her blue eyes glanced back and forth at us, as if daring us to say otherwise.

"Don't think so, Nora," I wheezed. "It's illegal to tap trees in the forests. It is a protected national park, after all. The only reason why we tapped the trees for Peach was for research purposes. We just took the extra sap. And remember:" I pointed a thumb at myself. "This person's allergic to red sap."

She whined. "Aww, but Jauney—"

"Sorry, Nora. But no red sap for today. Maybe during one of our vacations, I'll ask the Headmaster for a permit to extract red sap." The hyperactive girl piped up at that.

"Really?"

"Yep. An Arc doesn't go back on their word, remember? Guys, you're doing a great job, ask something else." My nausea came back with a vengeance, causing me to dry heave again. "How long has it been since we left?"

Ren looked at his scroll. "Apparently, two minutes." I paled at that. This is going to be a long ride.

* * *

I ran my fingers over my crimson scythe as we flew to the peninsula in silence. The rest of the team was either looking out of the window or staring at the floor of the airship, waiting for the action to start. This was always the worst part for me, the anticipation. The actual hunting's easy. It's the silence that makes you worry, makes you think about all of the ways it could go wrong. That doubt could be the life or death factor.

We all have ways of trying to beat back the silence. Blake read one of her novels, as usual. Yang had ear buds sitting on her ears. Loud rock music blared from the speakers, so loud I can hear it from the other side of the Bullhead. Weiss fiddled around with the chambers of Myrtenaster, making sure the vents leading out of the sword were clear from any debris. For me, it was checking each rivet and crevice of my baby.

It looks like every bolt is in their place. A quick peek of my scroll shows our landing zone approaching. I attached Crescent Rose to its mag holster on my back and glanced up at my teammates. One by one, they met my eyes. Yang tapped on her scroll and pulled out the earbuds.

"Team RWBY! We're a minute away from our landing zone! Due to the population of Griffin we'll be facing, we'll be doing a high altitude jump. We'll take down as much of the Griffins in the air as possible, before landing and storming the nest!" Every single one of them had a look of concern in their eyes just for a moment, before nodding in agreement. "We've been training at Beacon to fight Grimm! This is our moment to shine! Do a cheer with me!"

"Yeah!" We all said in unison, throwing her arms up. Smiles ran across all of their faces as I felt the adrenaline kick in. Just then, the side doors opened, revealing the open sky. I looked out. Dozens of Griffin fluttered below us. We're outside of their range by around ten or so meters. I looked up to see the JNPR Bullhead pass by. Here's to a good hunt, guys.

"Come on, team RWBY!" I yelled, activating my Semblance. With that, I zoomed out of the Bullhead. I flew in the air as I grasped my weapon. "Banzai!"

"Banzai!" The other three members shot out of the vehicle, following my lead. Gravity yanked down on me as Crescent Rose folded out into its war scythe form. I gripped my weapon as I soared down towards the ground, point facing the flying horde below us. One of the Griffin were approaching closer and closer… now!

I shifted Crescent Rose into its original form just as the tip stabbed into the Griffin's back. Instead of piercing through it, the blade hooked into the beast, sticking firmly and stopping my fall. The bird shrieked as it fluttered down due to the extra weight. It recovered, regaining some altitude before realizing that I was hanging on to it. Once its situation became clear, it started twirling in the air in a dive. Both hands grasped tightly on the shaft of the scythe as my body was yanked with it. Oh no, you don't! You're not throwing me off today!

In response, I threw my body in the opposite direction. That managed to cancel the Griffin's spin, forcing to fly straight down instead of a spiral. I grabbed a tuft of its fur as I climbed onto its back, letting out a heavy grunt.

From the corner of my eye, I saw everybody else land on their own Griffins and started wrecking havoc. Yang wrapped one of her arms around her Grimm's neck and fired at the others with her free hand, causing mass confusion amongst the horde. Blake took a more surgical approach, focusing on slicing one monster into ribbons before jumping to the next. My partner did a great job in bouncing from target to target, skewering them in the neck before creating another glyph to fire off again. It was a sight to behold.

But it's not fair if they get to have all of the fun. I wrapped my finger on the trigger as I aimed the barrel of Crescent Rose. "Bye bye, birdy," I whispered as I squeezed the trigger. The .50 caliber shot out with an ear-shattering boom, blasting the Grimm's head off and showering me with ichor. There's no time to think, as its death marked its final descent to the ground. I unhooked Crescent Rose and rode the Griffin down like a surfboard, glancing around for any attempt of retaliation.

It came in the form of another creature of Grimm, who dive bombed me in the hopes for revenge. I watched as it cawed at me, maw open as to swallow me whole. One swing of my baby flew at the bird, slicing its wing clean in two. Without its right wing, the bird veered off course, missing me by a good meter or so. I took a deep breath in as I saw the ground coming up. The wind smacked me in the face as I stood up on top of the dead Griffin. I could see the nest some distance away from my current location.

I breathed out as I pushed off of the Grimm, sending its corpse away from me. The move put me back on course to the location of the nest. Twenty or so Griffins laid on their dug up patch of dirt resting, unaware of the anarchy to come. I'm not going to let them attack the city of Vale. I moved the blade towards my back, readying my next strike.

I landed on both feet at an angle, sliding past a pair of the creatures on the loose dirt at supersonic speeds. My scythe was extended forwards in front of me. Moments later, the twin Griffins had their heads fall down to the ground. The headless monsters flopped to their side, rousing the rest of the pack. Every single one of them looked up and screeched, raising to their feet to challenge me. Three other thuds sounded from behind me. I don't need to look back to know who it is.

"Yang, Weiss, stay back and handle any swoopers. Blake, you're with me." The black feathers of the Griffins contrasted deeply with the red of the Forever Fall trees. I swung the curved blade, sending the ichor on it off into the dirt. With the foul fluids off, I spun Crescent Rose around, ending with me slamming the hilt into the ground. I flicked my cloak into the air, making myself look bigger, like a hero. I gave the monsters a huge grin. "Let's take this nest down!"

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = February 17, 2017**


	4. Grimm Oddity

Ren stared at me with concern as he stepped off of the Bullhead. "You okay there, Jaune?"

His words were drowned out by my gasps. It felt like the ground was spinning below my feet. "Yeah, I just need a moment to get my breath back," I answered, holding back a retch. My body keeled over to rest on dusty stone. It felt like my stomach was ready to give up on me. At least I didn't throw up in the Bullhead. That's an improvement to the beginning of the year. I pushed myself back to a sitting position and wiped my forehead. "Whew, I've gotten better at dealing with the motion sickness."

The Bullhead rested on a rocky clearing on the tip of the peninsula. I could see a sea of blue span across the entire horizon. Sunlight from the morning sun reflected off of the water, creating a light show of red and orange for everyone to see. A light breeze brought the scent of salt to my nose, further drowning out the terrible feeling of dizziness as well as sending my messy hair flowing back. It's a beautiful sight I wished everyone could see.

This part of the peninsula contrasted greatly from the Forever Fall. The ground right below the trees was completely littered with red leaves. I don't think anyone can take a step without the leaves crackling under their feet. In comparison, the rocky terrain we're on is barren. The only things that grew on the cliffs were some long patches of white flowers. I plucked a bud out from the ground and inspected it. The stem's firm yet thorny, like a rose. I tossed the blooming plant off of the cliff and watched its descent. Its bud shattered into individual petals in the middle of the air and they floated down to mix with the seawater below. As they touched the water, I let my mind wander in thought.

There was an old folktale about this place my Grandma liked to say to be. She stated how the Forever Fall was a place where two lovers used to meet, back when it was less of a forest and just a single tree. This cliff was their favorite spot. Back before the city of Vale, when everybody still struggled to survive, the couple would travel to the tree and just look into the sea, listening to the song of the wind.

It wouldn't stay happy like that for long. One of them died to the Grimm. An Ursa smashed the boy's head off on that cliff. His blood stained the grass and the leaves of the tree crimson. The story says that the forest is red because of that event. The other, wanting to join her partner in the afterlife, threw herself off of the cliff. After this happened, the gods looked at this event with pity, and created a batch of white flowers on the cliff side, to represent their pure white love in the sea of red. The thorns were placed to ward off the animals that wanted to take away their love. It's a tragic story.

I shook my head as I pushed the thought out of my mind. Now's not the time to think about folklore, Jaune! Get a hold of yourself! I pushed myself back to a standing position. My feet were still a bit wobbly from nausea, but it will do for now. I activated my shield and raised it up. "Come on Ren. The Ursa pack should be around here somewhere."

I nodded towards the landed Bullhead. The pilot waved back and took off, flying towards the safe zone. With our ride gone, it was now just Ren and me on this cliff. Nora and Pyrrha were already deep within the peninsula, pushing the Ursa back. Time to do our part in the mission. "Stay behind me, and watch for any Grimm trying to flank us," I ordered as I started my slow crawl into the forest. I stopped right at the border between the two environments. "Sense anything, Ren?"

He closed his eyes and focused for a moment. "Fairly unpopulated area," he muttered. "Five, no six figures southeast from here. I can make out some big, burly crunching sounds. Very clumsy steps." He opened his eyes to look at the trees. "There's minor damage to the bottom branches of the tree, but that's it. Likely a small pod of Ursai prowling the area for food."

"Alright, then." I glanced at a trunk of another tree species. Unlike the rest of the firm trunks of the trees around it, this one was thinner with more wiry branches. Instead of the normal single leaves of the trees around us, these leaves were more fern-like than anything. A smile crawled up my face. If I'm right, I think I know what kind of tree this is.

"Ren?" The boy turned over to me. The flat of my sword tapped at the trunk. "I think we got lucky. I might be wrong, but this looks like an Ailanthus."

The boy nodded. "That's right. A unique strain of the Ailanthus tree, local only to the Forever Fall." He hesitated for a moment. "What are you planning to do with it?"

"You know how bad the bark smells to Ursai when it's lit on fire?" I jammed the sword into the ancient wood, splitting the bark from the trunk. The tree cracked as I yanked the rough wood off. "I'm thinking we start a small fire here, push the rest of the Ursai into the forest, where they'll run into the girls. Wouldn't take them long to deal with the beasts." Ren let out a hum of acknowledgment.

"Good plan, Jaune. That should push the majority of them away from this cliffside." Before long, I had a pile of decent sized chunks. I licked my finger and raised it in the air. Wind's moving towards the mainland, and pretty fast, too. Perfect. The boy went up to me. "What do you want me to do?"

"Ren, when I'm ready, I want you to set this on fire," I stated as I made a tent formation out of the removed bark a couple of meters back. I started scooping up the leaves lying on the ground and threw them into the makeshift fire pit. "We can smoke this pod out, push them inwards, and then we make our push." He nodded in agreement.

I threw in the last batch of leaves. "Alright, it's all you now." Ren stepped towards the tipi formation I made, jerking out one of his Stormflowers. Deft hands unloaded the weapon and chambered a bullet tinted red instead of silver. With the squeeze of a trigger, a burst of fire flew towards the pile, igniting the leaves ablaze. The flames quickly overtook the wood, causing it to crackle and pop as ember flew out into the sky. Black smoke started spewing into the forest.

A quick whiff caused me to recoil. "Whew! That's a bad smell! Well, now I guess we wait a couple of minutes for the smoke to set in. Ren, go ahead and sit down. Do some meditating. I'll make sure the fire doesn't go overboard. We don't to end up with a burning Forever Fall." He gave me a chuckle. I sat down in front of the fire, watching the leaves char and burn up before falling apart into ash.

* * *

The four of us girls stood in a circle with our backs pressed against each other. Crescent Rose rested in my hands as I surveyed the situation. Several severed limbs dissolved around us as the Griffin pack continued to circle us with caution. Many of them were getting wary, given that they wore clipped wings or sliced off tails as battle injuries. One of them even hobbled on three limbs. I think that one was Blake's fault. The sky started to brighten up, now that the majority of the Griffins were grounded. The rising sunlight shined down on the ruined nest, illuminating us in the center.

The Griffins screeched at our continued survival. They looked furious, ready to pounce and rip us apart. They don't know what they're about to get into. "There's around twelve or so left," I muttered, checking that a bullet is chambered into Crescent Rose. "I don't suppose we can take on three each and then call it a day?"

"Fine, little sis." Yang grinned as she wiped her chin, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was definitely feeling the adrenaline pumping through her. "But I still intend on getting the highest kill count! Don't cry when I have to swoop in and save your butts!" She pounced for a cluster of three, firing off a couple of rounds to group them up. "These are mine!"

Weiss called out, "I got the few trying to fly off!" A couple of chunks of ice flew into the sky following her call, nailing a creature of Grimm in mid-air. Blake said nothing, leaving a shadow where she used to be. A dive-bombing Griffin pierced through the figure a second later, dispersing the illusion. It squawked in confusion before collapsing. The faunus' falling form landed on its neck as her katana shattered its beak, sending bits of it flying.

"Two left," she noted as she followed up by decapitating its head. Smoke fizzled from the open stub as the muscles loosened up. Blake stepped off of the beast before running out of our circle to find more Grimm.

"So I guess it's just you and me now, right Weiss?" I laughed as I turned to view my partner pressing against my back.

"Just keep your eyes open. Believe it or not, I do have to focus when I use glyphs." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, you haven't even started your three." My eyes glanced forwards, revealing an angry Griffin charging me. In a flash, Crescent Rose whistled as it sliced through the air, cutting the rampaging monster in half from the bottom up. A slight twist in my wrist changed my cutting direction so that instead of hitting Weiss behind me, the tip smashed into the ground a couple of meters to her right. The two halves of the Griffin separated as it flew past us, covering us with its ichor. A smile formed under the black fluid as it dissolved off of me.

I clicked my tongue in satisfaction. "You were saying?" Weiss rolled her eyes even harder at the comment, flicking as much of the substance off of her ponytail as possible.

"... Just take care of the rest." She went back to firing at the airborne Griffin. Two more creatures of Grimm bounded towards me, stopping a couple of meters out of my blade's range. Both of them had holes or cuts in their wings. In fact, one of them lost a part of their tail. They stared at me with pure hatred, growling and snapping at Weiss and I. With a single tug, I yanked Crescent Rose out from the ground. The blade gleamed in the sunlight. I held it so that the blade hung right behind me, ready to counter any of their movements.

These monsters had gotten warier of us. Instead of trying to leap at us, they stayed back at a distance, pacing just outside of my scythe's range. Now that just won't do. Crescent Rose folded into its sniper rifle form. I took quick aim before launching a sniper round. The bullet blasted one of them in the skull, causing it to recoil in shock. It didn't do too much, considering the round bounced off of its bony armor before it could do any real damage.

However, it did its job in baiting as the other Griffon, smelling an opportunity, snaked to my side before lunging. It made a fatal mistake. My body twisted to face the charging monster. My Semblance shot me forwards as Crescent Rose's thorn popped back out, hooking the beast mid-air. It screeched as it got caught flying backwards with the blade cutting into its throat. With a single press of the trigger, my baby barked, slicing through the Griffin's neck within moments.

I didn't stay around to admire my handiwork, spinning my body one eighty degrees so that I faced the stunned Griffin. Another burst of my Semblance launched me towards it. The monster looked up and let out a cry as I made my swing. Its cry for help was silenced as the tip of the scythe pierced through one of its glowing eyeballs, exiting from the other end of the head. The light faded away in its eyes as I yanked my weapon out of its skull.

"Progress check!" I yelled out, glancing around the field of uprooted dirt. My sister was going one v. one against a Griffin. Blake had a bit more on her hands, trying to fend off against two of the flying creatures. Weiss gave a glance at me as the last ice bolt struck the sole remaining flyer, sending it crashing into the earth.

"There's no more airborne Griffin, Ruby," the white haired girl pointed out. "It's all ground fighting from here."

"Go ahead and support Blake." I pointed towards the faunus girl. "She's going to need some Dust support."

"And what are you going to do?"

"Also support Blake, but from a distance." My sniper rifle formed back within my hands. "Scythes aren't exactly friendly towards teammates." My partner nodded, before running to help support Blake. I raised the scope right to my eyes. The girl in black held up fairly well, using dual blades and a lot of shadow dodging to stay alive so far. Her odds will get even better once Weiss joins her. But to be absolutely sure…

The crosshairs landed on one of the Griffin's limbs. They say that one of the hardest shots for a sniper to land is the head. It's a very small target that is well protected. Although I do agree with those points, I've thought that a body part even harder to hit is the legs, especially in creatures of Grimm. Because their movement is erratic, and they move often, shooting a Grimm in the limb is an achievement. Besides, why would anybody shoot a Grimm to stop it in its tracks? It's better to kill it.

But hey, Blake still needs two kills. I can't deny that to her. The Griffin I'm sighted on paused for a moment as it readied itself to screech. Crescent Rose roared as it spat out a bullet, piercing the monster's upper leg and forcing it to collapse to the floor. Blake, up on a tree, took advantage of this, jumping down and swinging her blades at the nape of its neck. A solid chunk flew off of its neck as it lost control of its body. The other Griffin backed away and glanced around to see where the shot came from.

It howled in pain out of nowhere, causing me to flinch. It turned around to see Weiss with Myrtenaster through its thigh. It hissed at the heiress, raising its paw to put her in place. Slender claws sprang out, ready to rip her apart. Before it could do so, it found a katana piercing through its throat. Blake sat on top of it, straining to push the blade through a couple more inches. Its eyes rolled back as it made one last pitiful move to hurt my teammate. The monster fell in silence, missing Weiss by a meter.

"Ruby, is that it?" Blake called out as she ripped the blade from its meaty sheath. I glanced around the area with the scope. No Grimm in sight. A smile crawled over my face.

"It seems like it!" I yelled back. "Yang, did you deal with your last Griffin?" My sister popped out from behind one of the dissolving corpses and waved at me.

"Yep! I don't see any more of them! That's a job well done!" She slapped her hands together, dusting them off.

"It's a bit early to celebrate, Yang! We still have to find the repeater and replace it!" I yelled. "Team RWBY, form on me!"

As they made their way to the center of the ruined nest, I caught a foul scent in my nose. It reminded me of burning rubber. I pinched my nose, wincing at the smell. The rest of the girls seemed to notice it too. Their faces scrunched off in disgust.

"Whew! Jeez, what's with this foul odor?" Yang waved her hand in front of her face as she walked into the circle. "That is some bad stuff! Is anybody burning something around here?"

"It would be bad if we happened to have a forest fire now of all times." Blake glanced at the generous amount of leaves on the ground. "This is a tinderbox ready to explode."

"We don't have time to worry about that," I coughed. "We need to find where the repeater is." I glanced at a map installed into my scroll. Without any service, there's no indication of where we are. It's simply a picture of a map. "North is currently behind me, but there appears to be some giant metallic antennas we can use as reference points…" My mind started to doze off at the boring details. "Umm…" Yeah, I'm not good at this. "Weiss, can you figure out where we are?" I shoved my scroll into her hands, much to her displeasure. She still did as she was asked, glancing up occasionally to note any potential landmarks.

My partner let out a cough. The smell still hasn't faded away. It must've taken a toll on her. "Okay, so based on my calculations, we're around here, on the bottom left part of the peninsula." She pointed it out on the scroll. "The repeater is N30ºE from our current position, which is…" Her finger tapped the metallic object as she looked at the clearing. She pointed in one direction. "That way. We just walk that way until we happen upon the repeater."

"Great! Weiss, Blake, Yang. I'm going to check on team JNPR. I'm sure you have this covered, right?" A glimmer of doubt flashed in their eyes before they nodded. For some reason, I don't think it was because they couldn't fix the repeater without me. "Alright! I'm off!" They couldn't say another word, as I've been long gone, replaced by falling rose petals.

* * *

Our silent wait was interrupted by an unusual hissing noise. It didn't sound like anything that fire would have made. "Ren?" I asked, clambering back up to my feet. "What was that?"

The boy in green paused for a moment, scratching his head before shaking it in confusion. "That sounded like a King Taijitu. But they couldn't be in this area. The last sighting of them in the Forever Falls was years ago!"

"I don't know about that." Sounds of rumbling came from the forest. Crocea Mors flew back out of its scabbard. "Get ready for a fight, Ren." He nodded, pulling out Stormflower and loading the magazine back in. We stood silent for a moment, me in front of the forest, while Ren rested his machine pistols on the top of my shoulders. The rumbling went silent, sending shivers down my spine. Did they go away? "Maybe they're gone," I whispered. "I don't think-"

My words were interrupted when an ashen head leaped out at me, fangs extended and jaw unhinged. I cursed as the teeth dug into my shield, keeping me away from harm. I responded by jabbing my sword into its cheek, causing it to reel back in pain. My body shook as it twisted and turned to escape my sword. "Ren! Shoot it!"

"I can't!" He cried, leaping away. A dark colored snake landed where he was a second later, trapping me between the two heads of a King Taijitu. Sweat started running down my face. This was bad. Real bad. Without another thought, I pulled my sword away and vaulted over the downed snakehead, pushing off just as the ashen snake moved its head up to hiss at me.

"Why is it coming towards us?" I yelled. From the corner of my eye, I saw its tail smash into my makeshift fire, scattering the embers over the rocks. They fizzled for a moment before its body slammed against them. Wisps of smoke escaped from under the Grimm as the last traces of fire were extinguished. My eyes widened as the realization hit me.

"It's putting out the fire!" It all made sense now, why there are so many leaves on the ground, despite the fact that no Remnan bothered to walk here. "It's trying to protect its home from burning up in flames!"

"And it found us." Ren fired a burst of rounds at the snake. The rounds served as a minor inconvenience at best, bouncing off without leaving so much as a mark. The rumbling entered our ears again. The rumbling wasn't from the snake? Who else is there?

With a furious roar, three Ursai popped out from the foliage and glared at us with their beady eyes. Not a lot of Grimm, but what caught my attention was the fact that they all had enlarged spikes growing out of their backs. I paled at the sight as my last memory of this forest came back to life. Ursa Majors. And three of them at that. They stomped on a nearby flower patch, knocking the white petals into the air. The wind caught them and blew them into the forest, never to be seen again.

"Jaune," Ren started as he his guns clicked empty. He made an effort to reload his weapons as quickly as possible. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, us two can't take all of them down at once." My mind went back to my first time in Forever Fall. Didn't I take down that Ursa Major? I should be fine holding off against three until we get some help from the others. "We're going to have to split up. I'll lure the Ursa Majors away by coating my shield with a bit of red sap. You attract the snake and take it down. You've taken down a King Taijitu by yourself, right?" He nodded. "I'm going to get outmaneuvered by the Taijitu, while there's a chance that the Ursai could knock you down in one hit. This is the best choice if we both want to survive."

He let out a sigh. "I wish there were better plans, but we take what we can get." Ren held up Stormflower. "Stay alive, Jaune."

"And you too." He went off to take on his opponent. I glared at mine, stabbing one of the sap trees. The blade came out with a sticky goo surrounding it. Good thing my allergies only affect me through direct skin contact. I rubbed the substance over my shield before banging it, attracting their attention.

"Hey you beasts!" I yelled. They strode over to me, curious to see what is going on, before noticing the sap on the shield. Drool escaped their mouths as they walked towards me. I held my sword pointing towards them, backing away from Ren as much as possible. "Come get some!"

* * *

It was a rush, running through the forest with my Semblance. The trees swished past me at blazing speeds as I pushed towards the center of the peninsula. I felt free moving through these trees without any care in the world. My eyes glanced left and right searching for a certain redhead. I should be firmly in Nora's area by now. She should be spottable anytime now. An explosion sounded left of me, followed by the death cry of several Ursai. Or I could just follow the destruction. That'll work, too.

With a grunt, I pulled myself up on a tree and did a quick search for her. I found the girl taking a stand next to a particularly thick tree. She had a manic grin as she aimed her grenade launcher towards a pack of Grimm. Six Ursai cowered at the sight of her with their backs against a dense pack of trees, glancing around for an escape route. There's no way Nora would let them go. She let out a crazy laugh as she launched another shell. It landed in the middle of three Ursas, sending bits and chunks of them flying. I winced as some bony shrapnel whizzed past my arm.

"Okay now!" Her grenade launcher shifted into a hammer. She did a couple of test swings as she approached them. "It's time to get up and personal! So, who wants to get the Nora treatment first?" None of the Ursai moved, afraid for their lives. I had to swallow a laugh. That's funny, seeing fear incarnate scared of a Huntress. One of them flinched, causing Nora to turn towards the moving figure. She gave it a smile.

"I'm glad that you volunteered!" She let the warhammer drop towards the skull of the Ursa. It caved in as it made impact, ending the monster in an instant. Ichor splattered all over the surrounding trees, darkening the colorful leaves of the forest. "Aww, I hit him too hard!" She pouted for a moment, before looking at the Ursa next to the corpse. "I guess that means you're next!" It howled, trying to crawl away. But it was too late. The metallic weapon flattened the back legs of the Ursa, causing it to release one of the worst sounds I've ever heard.

I clamped my ears as the poor Grimm twisted and turned in pain. Some semblance of tears ran down its face as it pawed at the ground in front of it. Nora stood over the beast, hands on her hips. Her weapon rested on its back, causing it to shutter. "That's better. But just in case," she heaved up the hammer and let it fly down onto its head. The pained screams stopped as the hammer crushed its brain. The forest was silent yet again.

"Just one more left," she mentioned to the last survivor. At this, the Ursa stood up to its full height as it found its courage. The beast let out the most ferocious roar it could. It was all in vain, as the hammer knocked its head clean off before it could even raise a paw. The headless corpse flopped to the ground, muscles twitching their last. Nora sighed as she looked at her work, spinning the foul liquid off of her weapon. I think she's good now.

"Hey Nora," I said, jumping down from my perch. She turned around and rested the warhammer on her shoulder.

"Oh hi, Ruby!" She smiled as if what she did moments ago didn't happen. Her tone was more chirpy and happy-go-lucky. "Did ya manage to deal with all of the Griffin?"

"Yup." I nodded. "The rest of team RWBY's looking for the repeater right now. How's the rest of your team?"

"Oh, I don't really know about Jaune and Ren, they're way too far for me to know. I did smell burning Ailanthus, though. Ren used to do that when we went hunting to drive off the Grimm. I think Jaune decided to do the same thing. Pyrrha currently doing fine right now. All of the Ursas are coming to her and probably falling down like a stack of dominoes! I think that she'll be finished killing all of the Ursai soon."

"Alright, then." I turned back towards the trees. "I'll go look for Pyrrha and check up on her."

"No need for that," a voice spoke from the foliage. The redhead champion popped out from a nearby thicket. She brushed the leaves sticking in her hair as she gave us a wave. "I took care of the main nest. There was a lot more Ursai than usual, but then again, I did smell burning rubber and smoke. Is there a fire nearby?"

I nodded. "The guys are smoking the Grimm towards us. I guess that means you haven't checked up on Jaune and Ren?" The girl shook her head.

"I didn't get the chance to. There's too many Ursai to keep tabs on. Besides, the two of them are farther away from all of us." She's right. We're around the middle of the peninsula now. It would take a good half hour to walk to the end, where Jaune and Ren are. But that's why they got me! I could make it to them in time! Pyrrha sniffed the air, frowning. "Do you smell that?"

"You just said it smelled like burning rubber," Nora piped up.

"I know, but that's not what I'm talking about. I don't smell it anymore." She sniffed again. "The smell is gone." We all paled at that. Wouldn't the smell last until we completely cleared out the area? If the smoke is fading away, then something must've gone wrong on the guy's end.

"Guys, I'll make my way towards Jaune and Ren." I leaped to my feet. "Try to get there as fast as you can!"

I shot forwards, using my Semblance to push myself as fast as possible. I've got to save the two boys of team JNPR! That's the only thing in my mind right now as I rushed past the trees. Leaves blew off of their branches as I sped past them, floating in the air before landing on the ground. Come on now, Ruby. Got to push yourself faster! They can't have much time left!

An image appeared in my head, distracting me long enough to crash into a tree. "Oww," I muttered as I rubbed my forehead. What are you doing, me? Jaune and Ren are in danger! Why think about that now? I glanced around the area I'm in right now. These trees look like the ones in my dream. I slapped myself in the face. Not now! I can't think about something that happened weeks ago! Focus on the mission first!

A few rose petals fluttered in the air, catching my attention. I grabbed one of them. It was as white as snow. Just like Mom. Wait, isn't there white roses growing on the cliffs of the peninsula? I snapped up in a panic. There must be a fight going on! They must've disturbed the flowers while defending themselves! I licked my finger and held it to the air. The wind is coming… northwest! That must be where the guys are at! I sprinted in that direction. Whoever's fighting, hang on! I'm coming!

* * *

My breath grew ragged as I stared down my adversaries. Six red eyes stared back at me, peering at my tired form. Turns out, three Ursa Majors are way harder to hold off against. And I thought I could last long enough for Ren to back me up. My arms felt like they were on fire after taking several dozen hits from each of them. One of their muzzles twisted into a snarl, before lunging at me with another paw. I lifted my shield up, only to feel the impact knock me off of my feet. Coughing, I checked my Aura levels. Way too close to red for comfort. Come on, Ren. Hurry up!

I pulled myself back up, only to throw myself back down at the sight of yet another swing, crashing into the rocks. My Aura flared as it prevented my skin from breaking. There's no way I can keep being defensive. I have to take down one of them. I can't keep three at bay for much longer, but I might possibly be able to make it with two. I got back up, taking a few steps back to get some distance. How am I going to do that? Back during the field trip, I beheaded one dodging a blow and countering. Maybe I should do that here.

My eyes flew around the area, trying to spot my teammate. Where's Ren right now? Was he forced to retreat into the forest to fight the King Taijitu? Come on, Jaune! There's no need to doubt him. He's going to come in time to pull me out of this situation. I just have to even the odds a bit. But what if I fail? I threw the thought aside. No! I'm not going to mess up here! My stance widened. I'll make it out okay! I felt like I glowed with confidence as I steeled myself for the task at hand.

I pointed my sword at the closest one and gave it the meanest look I can give. It took the bait, growling as it lumbered towards me. Just have to wait for it to raise up its paw. The Ursa scratched itself before raising its left paw up. I paled. Last time I blocked the right paw! But I have no choice. This is going to be awkward. I threw my shield arm across my chest, catching the blow. I spun on the balls of my feet as its claws slid off harmlessly. My sword hand followed a deadly arc as I completed my turn, embedding the blade deep into the Major's neck. It felt like the weapon became denser in my hands as it stopped within the monster's spine.

Wasn't as clean as last time. But its dimming eyes showed that it was still effective. It's going to die. I breathed out in relief as the beast fell down to my feet. Alright, now to do that two more times. I tugged at Crocea Mors. It wouldn't budge. What? I pulled again, harder. It stayed stuck and good. It's like my sword got stuck in stone! Sweat beads started to form on my forehead. How am I going to take down the rest of the Grimm?

I didn't get a chance to answer my own question, as a paw smacked me right in the side, knocking me away from my weapon. I groaned as I landed on the ground hard. My ears managed to catch the sound of a crackling noise, followed by a sudden feeling of vulnerability. I looked up to see yellow tendrils snake around my body before disappearing entirely. No, it can't be. My eyes flicked to my scroll. That's it. My Aura levels are empty. I dropped my head back to the ground. It's going to be over for me.

A looming shadow cast over me. One of the Ursa Majors stared back, gleeful to see my condition. I forced my limbs to push backwards, to do anything to escape the beast. They responded, but not fast enough. The Grimm sat on top of my chest, cutting off my airflow and my chance at escape. Am I going to die here? The Ursa opened its mouth, ready to bite my head in. I closed my eyes. I'm sorry, everybody. I let everyone down. Goodbye.

* * *

I managed to make it out of the forest, ending up on the cliff side. The first thing I saw was the sheer amount of roses growing on the surface. It's like they're snow— no Ruby! Focus! My eyes were drawn to a prone figure. An Ursa Major lay on top of him. I managed to catch a bit of messy blonde hair drop to the ground in defeat. Jaune! The Ursa Major opened its jaw. I have to kill it now! Crescent Rose flew out from my holster, and within milliseconds, I had the creature lined up in my cross sights. A crack vibrated through the air as my weapon spoke.

All it took was one bullet to shatter the monster's jaw, splattering all over the boy. It screamed in pain, stepping off of Jaune as its paws flew to its mouth. I racked the bolt back, loading another bullet before firing another round into its neck. It flopped over to its side, surprise visible in its eyes as it bled out.

"Jaune!" I yelled out, zooming towards him. Crescent Rose dropped to my side I knelt beside him. His eyes were closed. Is he? I grabbed him by the shoulders, causing his eyelids to snap up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, barely." He gave me a sheepish smile as he got up. "My Aura's broken, although you shot that Ursa before it could do any more damage. Thanks for that." He walked over to the corpse of another Ursa Major, which had his sword buried in it, and yanked it out of its prison. A splatter of ichor fell on the roses, staining them black. "There we go. Weapon got stuck."

Now that the threat is passed, I finally took the chance to look around. This cliff looked a lot like the one in the dream. The formation, the sea, the forest behind us is all so familiar. The only difference is that there isn't a gravestone in the middle and that there are flowers instead of snow. I took a deep breath and sighed. "That's an odd coincidence."

"What's that?" Jaune walked up from behind.

"To think that there would be a cliff with a field of white roses here," I muttered. "And for it to look a lot like the one in the dream."

"We don't have time to worry about that." Jaune held his sword up. "We still need to take care of the last Ursa Major." He looked behind me. "Come on, Ruby! It's right there! Let's kill it first before we worry about the flowerbed!" A howl came from behind me, shaking the boy. "What in the—"

I turned around to see the last Ursa Major keeled down, whimpering at something. That's strange. Why is it like that? Suddenly, the biggest Ursa I've ever seen broke through the forest. There was almost no black fur to be seen aside from the insides of the joints. The spikes on its back made it look as tall as the trees. What is that thing?

It grabbed the Major's head before crushing it with its bare paws. I paled as the headless corpse flopped to the ground. That thing's strong! The beast towered over the rest of the bodies as it stood upright. That must be the alpha, judging from the sheer amount of armor on it. Its beady eyes landed on us, and the monster started striding towards us. Unlike the others, it seemed as if it had no fear of us at all.

"Jaune, stick behind me," I ordered, stepping in front of him as I unfolded my weapon. "I'll take care of it—"

A paw cut my sentence short, forcing me to block the blow with my scythe. I tskked. It's so fast! It was in the forest just a couple of seconds ago! How could it cross over to us so quickly? I responded by letting the Ursa push the scythe back, flipping me around in the process. A yell escaped my mouth as I slammed Crescent Rose into its neck. A loud clang sounded from the impact. Yet the tip couldn't get past the armor, stopping barely a centimeter in. My eyes widened in shock. How is its armor so dense?

The beast, letting out a bored humph, smacked Crescent Rose out of my hands and off of the cliff. A cry escaped my mouth. I ran over to the side and watched in horror as the seawater swallowed up my weapon, forever out of my reach. "You monster!" My eyes flooded with tears as I jerked myself towards the monster, only to receive a paw to the face. The blow knocked me back towards Jaune. I took a deep breath in. That knocked the wind out of me. My Aura's going to crack soon. I got to do something quick.

"Ruby." The boy grabbed my shoulder and jerked me upright. "We got to run away now!" He turned towards the monster. "Without backup, this thing's going to kill—" He never finished his words as the Ursa connected its paws to his legs, catching me in the process. I felt my Aura shatter with that one blow. I landed on a batch of roses as the Aura flickered and dissipate. A cry escaped my mouth as the thorns stabbed into me. Oh gods, it hurts so much! Was this how normal people felt when they got hurt?

Jaune landed next to me before letting out a murderous screech. I looked over at the blonde boy who landed next to me. Tears ran down his face as he clutched his legs. I placed my hand over my mouth in shock. The joints were bent the opposite way. Nausea punched me in the gut. It doesn't look like it would support his weight even if we manage to kill the Ursa. He might not be able to walk again. It looked so unreal. To rub salt in the wound, a small pool of blood formed behind him, the thorns stabbing into his back. It doesn't look like he's aware of anything around him.

I glanced back at the monster of an Ursa. It remained content as it plopped down to the ground, waiting for us to make our move. It's smart to think that we might have a trap set up. If only we did have one up our sleeves! I can't trust the beast that it would let us go, but I'll take any spare time it'll give me. We have to escape now! I smacked Jaune as hard as possible, yelling: "Jaune!" He snapped out of his haze and looked at me.

"Ruby," he whispered, tears still running down his cheeks. It cut a channel across his dirtied face. "It hurts so much."

"I know Jaune. I know." What do I do? He's in no condition to run away, and I'm out of Aura! If I leave him, his death is guaranteed! But if I don't run… I gripped my hair, consumed by indecision. What do I do? What do I—

My thoughts were interrupted by yet another vision. The roles were reversed this time, with Mom lying down on the ground and me looking down. Even with blood running down her face, she still had a reassuring smile. I brought myself back to reality. Do I…? I looked down the cliff. It's a long drop down, and we have no way to know if we'll survive the fall! I don't want to do this, but it might possibly be my only chance.

A pale hand stroked my face. A glance of the edge of my eyesight revealed the white cloak of my Mom. That's right. Didn't she say that she would protect me no matter what? My heart filled with courage as I stood back up, facing the beast. Maybe I have no weapon to defend myself with. Maybe I have almost no chance of surviving, but I know Mom is going to be there at my side. That's all she ever wanted to do.

The Ursa saw my stand of defiance and snorted. It brought itself standing back up to its full height. Fear struck me for a moment before being replaced with determination. Heroes protect others, no matter the cost! I understand now. Just like how Mom jumped off of the cliff to protect me from the Beowolves, I must be willing to throw myself at the Ursa to protect Jaune! I must be willing to put my life at risk to save the ones I love. My hands balled into a fist as the Ursa leaned forwards, ready to charge. If I can buy him a couple of seconds, just a few, there's a chance that somebody can help save Jaune and hopefully me if I'm still alive.

"Ruby," the boy whispered. I gave him a sad look. It's time for me to do what's right. Weiss, Blake, Yang. If I don't make it, keep moving forwards without me. Become the greatest Huntress team Remnant has ever known. I'll always be watching you from up above. Mom… if you're watching, please protect me. The rose bush responded in kind. I could see the rose petals fall off of their stems. The wind caught them in a tornado, flying around me as their center.

"Jaune, I'm sorry." I turned back to face the monster. I took a step forwards, taking the Ursa's challenge. The alpha let out a howl.

"Ruby?" I ignored him, letting out a ferocious scream as the Ursa charged. I could see its snarl, its fangs bore out to kill me. I stared back at it, feeling at peace with the world. I leaped up at it, my tiny fist flying towards the bear's nose. From the corner of my eye, I caught an incoming paw coming up towards my head. There was no way I could dodge the hit without my Semblance. But then again, why would I? It's time to let the petals scatter.

"RUUUUUUBBBBYYYYYYYY!" I didn't feel the hit. The last thing I saw was the Grimm's face as my vision exploded into rose petals. Then it faded to nothing.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 3/3/17**


	5. Roses on a Breeze

A smack to the cheek brought me back to reality. My eyes blinked rapidly as I tried to clear up my blurry vision. I could see nothing but vague shapes of black, white, and red. What hit me? A small figure kneeled next to me. Is that Ruby in my face right now? "Jaune!" she yelled. My pupils contacted, allowing me to see the girl with almost perfect clarity. She looked worse for the wear: her forehead was leaking blood, sliding down her pale skin and staining it red. Dirt dotted her face, ruining her otherwise clear complexion. Silver eyes glanced at me with concern.

I winced as pain shot through my legs again. My arms flew to the hurting limbs and clenched hard. Tears streamed out as I pressed through the pain, assessing the damage. A finger dipped down the top of my knee. A groan escaped my mouth. Both of my knee joints are inverted. I'm lucky that they weren't ripped off from the blow. However, there's no way that I could walk and get out of here anytime soon. This might just be it for me.

"Ruby," I whispered to the girl, looking into her silver eyes. I can see a hint of fear flash through them. My throat feels so sore just trying to speak to her like I screamed for a long, long time. "It hurts so much."

"I know, Jaune. I know." Her pupils dilated as she lost herself in her thoughts. Wait a minute, is the Ursa still here, or did Ruby manage to kill it? I strained my head to look over Ruby's shoulder. The Ursa sat on one of the rose beds, pawing the ground as if it was waiting for us to react. My teeth ground against each other. The monster's mocking us! My friend gets disarmed, it inverts my legs, and then it decides to play around in the dirt? I glanced back at Ruby, to see the last vestiges of a pale white hand disappear into the air. My heart skipped a beat. What was that?

Whatever it is, it changed something in Ruby. Her eyes went ablaze with a fire that I've never seen her have. It was the look of sheer determination. I swallowed. She never had that look in her eyes throughout the entire school year; not even when she was building weapons! She looked like she was ready to fight all of the Grimm in the world alone. A cough escaped my mouth. Just what was that hand, and what happened to her?

I gasped at the girl as she stood up from the rose bush. What was she doing? In the back of my mind, the answer sat there. It didn't stop me from denying the truth. I shook my head as best as possible. Please, Ruby. Just run. You can't fight it alone. You couldn't even touch it with Crescent Rose; you're not going to get it now! Find Ren, or Pyrrha, or any of our friends! Get them to help you. We need more Huntsmen to kill this thing.

She balled her hand into a fist. Another gasp escaped my mouth. No, don't do it, Ruby! It's suicide! "Ruby," I whispered. The pain that I felt in my throat brought my voice down to a hush. It's just about ready to give out. She turned around and gave me a sad look. Panic ran through my aching body. "Don't do this." Even I could barely hear those words leave my mouth. Something tells me she didn't hear them either. A flurry of rose petals started floating around us, obscuring her form from my view. I could only make out a blurry figure standing in the hurricane of flowers.

Her next words froze my heart cold. "Jaune, I'm sorry." Her silhouette started running towards the Ursa.

"Ruby?" My question went unheard, as she screamed at the bounding beast. No, no! Don't do it! I dug down into the ground, trying to pull myself towards her. A cry escaped my mouth as my legs protested, ending my progress. All I could do now was watch.

The rose petals wrapped around her tightly as she leaped towards the maw of the Grimm. I could make out her throwing a fist towards its face. A silhouette of a paw flew towards her head in turn. Why isn't she doing anything to avoid the blow? She must've seen it! The paw's going to hit her! She's not going to make it! I threw my arm out towards her in vain. "RUUUUUUBBBBYYYYYYYY!"

At my sound of my voice, the cloud of rose petals cleared up, showing me the two fighting. The Ursa's paw smashed into the side of her head, bursting her skull open into several pieces. Blood flew all over the rose patch they stood on and stained the white roses red. Pieces of her head mingled with the white petals surrounding her. Those shattered bits flattened and rounded themselves out into crimson rose petals. That must be the last bits of her Semblance acting out. The mixture of red and white floated down to the ground, decorating the ghastly scene.

Her headless body went limp as it was sent flying towards the forest. It landed on another rose bush, one unaffected by the battle. She landed gracefully, not bending or harming the flowers underneath her in any way. Her black and red outfit contrasted with the pure white of the plants. They held her up like a casket, showing to the world the fate of my friend.

My arms pushed against the ground to get up and run towards her. I cried out as pain gripped me again; forcing me to fall back down to the cold, hard ground. Crocea Mors slipped back into my hand. I'm not leaving my friend behind! The blade sunk into the ground with a thunk. With a grunt, I pulled myself towards her body. Tears ran down my face as my whole entire body shook with pain, but I didn't care. This can't be happening. She can't. The Ursa didn't bother attacking me, instead choosing to step back to watch the scene. It was agonizing to stab the ground, pull forwards, remove the sword and stab again. It felt like an eternity as I crawled across the thorny field. My mind and body wanted to quit. My heart wouldn't.

At last, I pulled myself to Ruby's side, collapsing as my arms gave out. My breath was ragged. Can't… stop… now… Please be alive, Ruby. You can't stop living. I pulled myself up to a sitting position to see the extent of the injuries.

That was a mistake. I gagged at the sight. It was worse than I thought. A giant puddle of blood formed where her head should be. The stump thankfully didn't show flesh and bone, replaced with a budding rose. Small strands of her red Aura sparked through the flower bud, trying to heal what was left of her. It was a fruitless endeavor. My friend, from the beginning, the only person I could trust… is headless. There's no way she could've survived the blow. I slumped back in despair. She's gone. There will be no more talks about weapons or leadership motivation speeches or silly antics between friends. All of that lost in a single hit.

I heard the ringtone of her scroll ring out. Without thinking, I turned her over so that she was facing the sky. I fumbled to where the device was vibrating from and pulled it out. Blood stained the device as I popped it on. My eyes raised up in surprise. Somebody's trying to call Ruby. Did the signal get restored? I hit the answer button before it slipped out of my hands; it landed on the dirt with the camera face down.

"Hello?" A familiar rowdy voice called out. I glanced away from the device. "Ruby? It's me, Yang. We found the repeater and managed to fix it back up. Where are you right now?" My throat hitched. I don't want to say a single thing to the blonde. In fact, I don't know what to say! I can't stand to tell her what happened.

"Um, Yang?" The calmer deadpan voice of Blake come out of the speaker. "You got to look at this." Some movement could be heard over the microphone before a cry overloaded it, causing the sound to distort.

"What?! No, no, this must be a malfunction," the blonde stated. I could hear pacing noises come from the scroll. "Are you sure, Blake? Like, the Aura bars start from zero and load back up, right?"

"No, our bars are already loaded up." A soft set of footsteps pattered in the conversation. "The only one that hasn't is—"

"NO!" A pounding noise could be heard. "She can't!"

Weiss' sharp voice entered the conversation from there. "Yang, you have to calm down—"

"I can't calm down! My baby sister, she's hurt!" More pacing around, but this time it's mixed in with ragged breathing. "Her Aura's down, and she might be in danger, and I didn't come for her! I have to do something!"

"Look, Yang. We still have a chance." The heiress kept a neutral voice and tone talking to her teammate. It's impressive considering that I could hear a bit of wavering in her words. "I'm tracking her location. Her scroll's ten minutes away from us at most, close to the landing zone we agreed upon. If we hurry up, we can call for the Bullheads and get her out of there!" Silence. A tear rolled down my face.

"Yang. You have to trust that Ruby can take care of herself." Blake again. My heart throbbed at her words. She has no idea. "End the call and call team JNPR. Tell them to get to Ruby's location. They're closer to her, and they will get her out of there. JNPR wouldn't let Ruby die."

"... Okay. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have panicked. She's a strong Huntress, now. It's so hard to remember that. But you're right, guys. She's going to be okay." The call ended, leaving a long dull tone ringing. A new set of tears started pouring out from my eyes. My gods, they're going to be crushed when they find out! I smashed the ground with my fist. Why? Why? I failed Ruby! I failed her team! How could I call myself a hero, a Hunter, when I couldn't even protect my own friend? Why? It's not fair! The moment my scroll started ringing, I threw it to the side without opening it.

A sound that sounded like giggling erupted from the Ursa. One glance showed the monster rolling around the ground, jaws open with glee. IIt swung its paws in the air in play, like it was smacking at butterflies. I gave the Grimm a look of pure hatred. "You." I slammed the blade of the sword into the ground, sinking the blade deep into the ground. "You monster!" I'm going to destroy this thing!

Pain shot up my legs as I pulled myself up to a standing position. They shook as more weight was applied to them. My broken limbs want to collapse so bad. I won't let them. Meanwhile, my arms burned like never before as they held me up. I might be hitting my breaking point. Sweat fell down my brow as my upper body strength started to fail me, causing my body to sink down. My grip readjusted as I slammed my chest on the pommel. No! I have to get up! For Ruby! For everyone else! This thing is going down!

In that moment, I felt something flare within my soul. I felt the weight pulling on my arms disappear. With renewed strength, I yanked myself up to a standing position with a holler. It's like I got a second wind! My spirits soared. Maybe I do have a chance after all! I yanked my sword from the ground.

A gasped escaped my mouth as I looked at my upright self. My knees were still inverted, yet I'm standing up. And I don't feel any pain at all! I don't feel any weight bear down on my messed up joints. How is this possible? This shouldn't be possible! If I was able to stand the whole entire time, I could've just—

I mentally slapped myself, pushing away the wonder in my mind. Does it matter how I managed to get up? It's going to mean nothing if I fail now. A single goal remained in my mind: bring down the monster that took my best friend's life. I pointed Crocea Mors towards the Ursa, causing the Grimm to get up in interest.

With a grunt, I started limping towards the Ursa. Every step brought me an inch closer to the monster. I growled in frustration. While my knees don't feel any more pain, it's still impossible to run towards the beast. All I can do right now is make my way towards the armored Grimm. Its head cocked to the side as a grunt escaped its muzzle. The Ursa was probably wondering how I'm still up and standing. I don't know either, but I know I'm going to take this beast down. For Ruby.

The monster finally realized the scope of the situation as it stiffened up. It growled as I got within five meters of it, standing up to its full height. I responded by brandishing my sword. "Come at me! I'll cut you down!" It roared at my act of defiance, spraying a hot mess of saliva at my face. My free hand wiped the slobber away as I gave it the best glare I can manage. With an arrogant snort, it raised its paw back for a strike. I tightened the grip on my weapon as a response. We faced off like twin duelers on the sands of Vacuo, waiting for high noon to come.

We both howled in fury as we swung for each other. My sword bounced off the armor like it was nothing. I paled. This isn't going to go well. Before the paw hit me, my shield shifted to its true size on my shield arm. I have to tank the blow! A familiar feeling flared through my soul, the same feeling I felt right before I stood up. The paw smacked at the shield, yet it didn't knock me back. All I felt was a light push back. It's like I've been hit by a stuffed animal instead of pounds of pure muscle!

The Ursa widened its eyes in surprise before narrowing. It swung again and again, each paw colliding into my shield with a loud clang. Yet the exact same thing happened. What is going on? Is this my Semblance? I glanced at my Aura levels. Still zero. It can't be my Semblance. I have no Aura powering it. How is this possible? I'm using a Semblance without any Aura! I glanced at my hand. Something's off about it. It's almost impossible to see, but it looks like there's another ghostly hand overlaying my own. But there's no time to think about that. This miracle might fade away, and then I'm going to end up like Ruby.

I looked over my shield as the Ursa pounded at me. Think, Jaune, think! There's got to be a way through that bone carapace! What did Port say about plate armor? Memories of random stories appeared in my mind. Okay, not that. What else is there? Come on, he has to have lectured about something! Even something about Ursa would help!

A hazy memory drifted into my thoughts, one where Port talked about how he wrestled an Ursa. Wait, I might have something! I scrunched my forehead in thought. Why did he have to wrestle the Grimm? Something about having to abandon his weapon. Come on, I know I didn't sleep through that whole entire lecture! Bone armor is—! The memory became crystal clear. That's right! His axe couldn't break through its bone armor because of its density. Cut and stab wounds rely on separating flesh from each other, he said. Bone armor is compact enough so that the separation doesn't happen. That's why we don't use blades on bone armor.

But something's still missing. He choked out the Ursa afterward, but that's not something I could do at the moment. Not in my current condition. I could feel the hits starting to increase in strength again. My luck's just about to run out; I have to come up with some way to get away from this Ursa and fast. But how am I going to get away from this beast? I gritted my teeth. If I hesitate for too long, this thing is going to launch me— My eyes widened. Of course!

My muscles tensed as I threw myself backward, angling the shield to take the next blow head on. There's no way I can dodge the blow. Trying to tank it is just going to knock me off my feet and get me to fly off in a random direction. However, if I could angle myself just right, I can control my flight through the air!

I felt my feet lift up from the ground as the paw crashed into my shield. With a yell, I soared across the field away from the beast. My body twisted down while in the air, pointing the shield towards the ground. I pulled my head as close to the shield as possible as we landed. Instead of the usual pain of the crash, I felt myself slide across the field of roses at a frightening speed. My shield served as a makeshift sled, protecting my torso from the prickly thorns.

My sword slammed into the ground close to Ruby's body, jerking my body and forcing it to a stop. Both arms screamed as they yanked me back to the standing position. Okay, that should buy me some time to think. How am I going to get through that thing's armor without using my sword? There are chinks where the limb bends, but I have to be agile to get those points; my legs aren't going to help me in that regard. But maybe I'm going at it wrong. What if I trick it into running off of the cliff? No, but I have to get hit again, and that sledding stunt is going to get dicey on the edge.

The beast let out a roar that echoed through the forest before leaning forwards and pawing the ground. I paled. I'm out of time! It's going to charge me! I have to do it! I pulled my sword out. Wait a minute! Ruby's body's here! I glanced down at what remained of her. If I do my trick again, who knows what's going to happen to the body? Can I let this Ursa further damage her corpse for my plan?

My lips pressed together as my forehead furrowed. No. It's not. I limped so that I was between her body and the attacking Ursa. It's such a selfish choice to make, but in my heart, I couldn't let what's left of her be destroyed. A grim smile ran across my face. I hope you forgive me for this, Ruby.

Crocea Mors raised up to the air as the Ursa pushed off, making a beeline towards me. White and red rose petals flew into the air by both the stampeding footsteps and the increasing wind. My shield folded back into its sheath form. No point of keeping this up if any hit was going to send me flying away from Ruby. These were probably going to be my last minutes. I felt determination run through me as both hands gripped the sword. My eyes gazed into the glowing eyes of the monster, waiting for the Grimm's final attack.

At that moment, a white figure flew out from the flurry of rose petals, blazing to intercept the Ursa. My eyes widened as I dropped my sword in surprise. The person was wearing a white cloak that flowed through the air, mixing and mingling with the roses around them. Is that… Ruby's mom? The figure in an instant smashed their fist into the monster's side, sending cracks through the armor. I let out a gasp. They did it! Whoever it was, they damaged the armor! I'm saved!

The Ursa howled in pain as it started veering off course. With a relieved laugh I used my free hand to push away the monster. My soul flared yet again, and to my surprise, the Ursa flew through the air. It had a look of shock as it squirmed through the air, unused to being in the air. I shared its disbelief as I looked at my hands yet again. Where did this power come from? Before I could barely hold off against an Ursa Major. Now I can literally push this hulking mess into the air! I squeezed my free hand. I don't feel any stronger. In fact, I can feel the exhaustion take its toll on me. How is this possible?

I ran through what happened in the battle right as the beast smashed into the ground, sending more cracks through its armor. When fighting against that group of Ursai, my sword grew extremely heavy, cleaving right through its neck using just the weight of the weapon. Right after Ruby died, I was able to stand on broken legs, absorb several hits from an Ursa, and now push said Ursa into the air. Hmm… now that I think about it, during each of those events I felt something change in me right before each of those things happened. It's like the mass of everything I touch changed— It felt like the last piece of the puzzle clicked. Does that mean I can control the density of an object?

It makes sense with what I'm seeing so far. It feels like there's no weight on them at all. Does that mean I made my body so light that the inverted knees can still keep me up? I glared at the Ursa standing back up. Black ichor leaked out of the fractures in the armor. Whatever that person did, it managed to hurt the monster. The new cracks must be because I brought its density down to almost nothing! It locked eyes with me as it licked its wounds. I can see the rage coursing through its eyes. Whatever intelligence it had earlier was buried under the desire to murder me.

The white cloaked stranger reappeared from the edge of my sight, arms up and ready to fight. "Hey!" I yelled. The figure turned their head slightly towards me. "Excuse me, but are you here to help us?" Their head made the slightest nod. A smile ran across my face as a coherent plan formed in my mind. Maybe we might be able to make it out after all. "I need you to do something." My finger extended towards the Ursa. "You seem like a powerful person, and I'm in no position to move. Can you send me flying towards that thing? We'll tag team it. You smash through the armor, and I'll end it."

They didn't answer. Right after I finished speaking, they made their way to my back at lightning speeds. I blinked. When did the person get over here? Before I could ask, I felt a palm slam into my back, followed with me flying through the air again. The cloaked figure zoomed towards the beast, not even a second after I went airborne. What is this speed? Is this the true strength of a Hunter?

The stranger let out a scream, bringing their hands out from their cloak. A flurry of blows flew at the beast at breakneck speeds, forcing the Ursa down into the ground. Instead of cracking the armor, entire chunks just flew off, exposing the dark fur within. The ichor started dripping out of the Ursa's mouth as its jaw bobbed around in shock. Perfect.

I felt my sword grow heavy in my hands as the tip moved towards the monster's chest. It's time to end this. I let out a yell. "Switch!" The figure in an instant stepped to the side. Crater-like formations dotted the monster's torso. The armor from the Grimm was gone from head to toe, making the monster vulnerable for my sword. Crocea Mors pierced through its chest as I landed, causing it to let out another howl. It felt like landing on a mass of pillows instead of flesh.

Within moments I threw myself on its neck, making sure it can't escape. The Ursa snapped, straining to get up. It's no use, you monster. Your muscles are too unpacked to do anything, and I'm heavier than you at this point. I unsheathed Crocea Mors from its chest and aimed the tip between its eyes. My other hand pressed against the area between its eyes, reducing the density of its skull. A grim look overtook my face. "This is for Ruby." I slammed the blade down, piercing through its skull and brain like it was nothing. It stopped struggling instantly. I can feel the muscles slacken between my supposedly broken legs.

I let out a long sigh as I looked into the sky. What do you know, it's just about noon. I yanked the blade out of its skull, splattering ichor all over my body. That didn't bother me as much as it should have. It's over. I've avenged you, Ruby. I felt my throat hitch as the adrenaline faded away. Now, it's time to grieve for our loss. I pushed myself to a standing position with the help of my sword before limping towards the girl's body. My knees are still holding up, but I kept Crocea Mors as a makeshift cane. Just in case this ability fails me.

I looked around for my savior. They're gone; it's like they never existed in the first place. "Thank you!" I yelled out. "Thank you for the help!" No one responded. I let out a shiver. It felt spooky thanking this person for saving my life. What are the odds that they would come upon us? The thoughts escaped my mind as I focused on the rosebed approaching me.

Before I knew it, I found myself in front of the flowerbed carrying the headless corpse of Ruby Rose. Rose petals fluttered around the body, dancing in the wind. I let a tear run down my face. "Ruby. I'm sorry that you had to end up like this." I paused for a moment. What do I say? How great of a friend she was? How I trusted her in terms of leadership?

"Jaune!" I glanced up. The rest of team JNPR burst through the forest as they ran into the clearing. Pyrrha had a concerned frown on her face. Her eyes roamed over me. "What happened? When we saw your Aura levels go to zero, we thought— oh my gods, your knees!" Her hands clamped over her mouth. "Jaune, you're hurt!"

"Yeah, the Ursa wasn't too kind to me," I muttered, staring at the roses around me instead of my team. "It's a good thing they're just inverted. I can get them snapped back by a paramedic."

"You mean that Grimm right there?" Ren pointed behind me at the one I had just killed. "Jaune… that's an Ancient Grimm you just killed. Looks like it lived for centuries. Entire teams of Huntsmen would fail at hunting these creatures. And you not only do… all of that, but also walked away with only inverted knees to worry about?"

"Not just inverted knees. We lost a lot more." I stared at Ruby's body. Their eyes followed my line of sight before they muttered sounds of disgust and shock.

"Oh gods." I heard Nora take a couple of steps back. "Poor Ruby… How did this happen?"

"She tried to defend me without her weapon. Tried fighting the Ursa hand to hand." I choked up as the scene flashed through my mind. My mouth quivered as my voice stopped working. Get it together, Jaune. They deserve to know what happened. "Th— The Ursa spla— splattered her head before she could even get a single hit."

"... Jaune, that's horrible," Pyrrha whispered. She pulled me into a hug. I could feel teardrops fall on my shoulders. "I can't believe it. Never in my life would I think… a young girl like Ruby would be taken away from us." At this point, I couldn't keep it in anymore. My nose started stuffing up with mucus as I let all my sorrow out. The tears flew out in a torrent in mourning of my friend. I looked at my partner's face.

"Pyrrha, what am I going to do?" She said nothing, choosing to rub the back of my neck like she used to do during my periods of nausea. "Team RWBY's coming soon. How can I tell them about all of this? That their leader is—"

"Guys, what's going on?" I looked behind me to see Weiss, Blake, and Yang standing near the trees. They had their eyebrows raised at the scene in front of them. Yang stepped forwards. "What's with all of the waterworks?" Ren glanced at me before stepping in between the two groups and raised his hands in defense.

"Everybody, you have to understand—"

"Ren, you can stop," I sighed. It's time to face the music. "There's no point in trying to hide it." I looked up at them with tearful eyes. "You guys, I have terrible news. Please understand when I say that I'm sorry." I stepped to the side, showing them the fate of their leader. Weiss' face contorted in horror, clamping her mouth shut with her hands. Her eyes slammed shut as her cheeks scrunched up in an attempt not to scream. Blake's jaw flew open as her amber eyes twitched back and forth. Despite how disturbed she looked in this situation, she's taking it the best. Her body stayed more composed than the rest of her team.

Yang let out a horrified shriek. "Oh my gods, Ruby!" she yelled as she ran across the clearing. The bed of flowers was disturbed yet again by the heartbroken blonde in her quest to get to her sister. She dropped down to her knees as she grabbed one of Ruby's hands. "No, no, this can't happen. You can't leave me, too! Please, please…" Her shoulders throbbed up and down as she made hiccuping noises. A minute passed, then two as everybody stared at the two sisters. I grabbed her shoulder and squeezed them as a show of comfort.

Suddenly I felt her hand squeeze my wrist almost to the point of snapping it, sending a wave of pain through me. I looked down at Yang only to find my face meeting her fist. Blood shot out of my nose as I recoiled and reached for my face. A groan escaped my mouth as I swam through agony. I looked at the brawler. Her eyes were crimson red and her teeth were gritted in rage.

As I was distracted, the brawler grabbed my collar and threw another punch at me, the blow landing on my cheek this time. I took the blow and allowed the pain to shoot through my face. I do kind of deserve it. My jaw nearly dislodged at the hit. Within moments my partner pulled Yang away from me. The girl in yellow screamed as she struggled to get free of Pyrrha's grip, still swinging in my direction.

"Yang, you have to calm down," the redhead said as the brawler bucked around. "Jaune doesn't have any Aura left."

"I don't care!" Her judging eyes stared at me. "Why didn't you protect her, Jaune? Why did you let her die?"

A bit of blood flew out of my mouth as I coughed. I rubbed my hurting jaw. "Ruby protected me, Yang. I wanted her to run away and let me die. She wouldn't have that." Yang stopped struggling, staring at me in confusion. Her eyes started swelling up as they faded back to their original lilac. I continued: "Even with her Aura down, she stepped up to fight against the Ursa. She's a hero."

"I don't want my sister to be a hero! I want her to be alive!" She broke down, letting the tears run down her face. Pyrrha let her go, content that the brawler wouldn't try anything. Yang crawled over to the headless Ruby, bringing her up to her chest. The girl started stroking the arm of the body. "I want my sister back."

My eyes flickered to the ground, not willing to meet anybody's eyes. I felt a hand clamp my shoulder. The faunus let out a sigh. "If it's any kind of reassurance, you did the best that you could. Don't blame yourself for this." Blake patted me before joining the circle of friends mourning Ruby. Seven people standing over and crying over a loved one. I wished we didn't have to experience this so soon.

A floating rose petal caught my eye. Is it just me, or is it floating towards Ruby? I looked outside the circle. A trail of petals was coming towards us. But the wind stopped some time ago! How could they be moving towards us? I watched the petals in fascination as they swam through the air before rushing into our little circle. Everybody gasped as the trail entered the rose bed. Yang pulled away in surprise as she felt the rose petals surrounding Ruby.

Bit by bit, the petals landed on the stump where the head used to be before forming back into flesh. Our jaws fell open as her head was rebuilt bit by bit. From her chin to every strand of hair, every petal completed more of her. The last two petals landed where her eyes would be, forming two eyelids. With that, she's back to normal. It was like Ruby was never hurt by the Ursa.

Yang gasped in shock as she squeezed the sleeping girl. "She's breathing." The elder sister pressed the side of her head onto Ruby's chest. Her mouth quivered as she listened in. "She has a heartbeat. My gods, she's alive." It was too much for Yang. She pulled her sister's head to her chest and started crying. "She's alive, she's here." Everybody else started tearing up at the miracle in front of us. Yang continued: "I'm never going to let you go, Ruby. Your sister's going to be with you. I won't let anyone hurt you." If it wasn't for my legs, I would collapse right there. I— I can't believe it. Ruby's going to be okay.

"Mom?" Yang pulled the girl away. The reaper's eyes were open, but they remained unfocused, looking past Yang. "Is that you, Mom? It's just like you said. You were there for me." She lifted her hand and reached over Yang's shoulder. "Come here, Mom. Give me a hug. I want to thank you."

Yang looked over to her shoulder to see what Ruby could possibly be looking at. "She's seeing things again," Yang stated, lifting the girl up, pulling the girl's arm back down. "We have to get her out of here now! Ruby doesn't have any Aura. We can't stay here for long." Everybody nodded, getting on their scrolls to call for the Bullhead.

I looked over to where Ruby was pointing to. Standing where everyone entered from was a white cloaked figure. She was relatively small like Ruby. Her hood was up, cloaking the majority of her face. My eyes widened at the stranger's reveal. Isn't that… Ruby's mother? "You," I whispered under my breath. "You came back." I took a few steps toward the figure before tripping and falling over.

"Jaune! You have to be careful!" Pyrrha ran over to my prone body. "Your knees are still bad! Here, let me carry you!" I looked back at where the figure stood. She's gone again. I swear sweat started running down my face. Maybe Ruby's mom was a ghost after all. My partner meanwhile hooked her hands through my armpits before yanking me up. As my balance stabilized, she wrapped one of my arms around her neck. Pyrrha let out a hum. "Jaune, you're unusually light. What's your current weight?"

"Uh, around one hundred and eighty pounds?" I shrugged.

"That's weird. You feel like you're ninety pounds or so. More than half of that seems closer to your legs."

I waved away her concern. "Yeah, I don't really know how to explain it. Could we talk about it when we're back in Beacon?" She looked concerned but nodded to my request.

Within moments, two Bullheads streaked to the sky, slowing down as it swung to its side. The engines stopped humming as the vehicles landed. The side entrance popped open on each ship, revealing the pilots.

The one on my ship coughed into his hand. "We heard that we have injured, is that right?" Everybody nodded.

"Ruby and I have no Aura," I spoke out. "Also I need somebody to snap my knees back in the right way."

They hissed as they saw the condition I was in. "... Alright. Cammy, take care of the girl. I'll get the boy's legs right." My pilot stepped off of the Bullhead and ran towards me. "Sit down for me." I complied. He grabbed my left leg. "Now, this is going to hurt a lot, especially with your Aura gone. So bite something, scream your heart out. It will only take a moment." Before I could say anything, he smashed his hand behind the knee, snapping it back to its correct spot.

I howled in pain, shivering as the joint moved back in place. Firm, assured hands rubbed the realigned limb as to get the blood flowing. "You're doing good, Jaune. Buck up, man. We still have one more to go." The other leg snapped back in place before I could protest. Another scream of agony escaped my mouth. The man sighed as he finished his evaluation. "Okay, your limbs are back to where they should be. But just in case—" He lifted me up bridal style. His eyebrows raised up as he tested my weight. "You seem really light for someone your size."

"Yeah, my partner said that before." I gritted my teeth. "Don't ask. I don't know either." My pilot didn't say a word as he carried me back to the Bullhead, my team following close behind. The last thing I saw before he strapped me in was the field of white roses. The white petals flew into the air and into the sky, dancing like two lovers in a ballroom.

* * *

My head snapped up as I woke up. I'm in a hospital bed again. This is the second time in a single month I've been hospitalized. I groaned as I scratched the base of my neck. What happened? I looked at the tubes hooked up to my body. A clear liquid pumped into my body through the tube. Oh, right. I ran out of Aura. After that, I threw myself at the Ursa. But I can't remember anything that happened afterward. How did I get out of there alive?

"Hey, Ruby." I glanced over to the bed next to me. Jaune smiled as a similar liquid pumped into his body. His bed looked around two meters away from me. "Nice to see that you're finally awake."

"Jaune?" I tried pulling myself up. "… What happened?"

"You don't remember?" He adjusted himself in his seat. "You lost Crescent Rose when the Ursa hit you, then you tried to fight it with your fists. Your head splattered into pieces right afterward."

Wait! If that's true then… then I should be dead! I patted my face. Nothing feels off. I don't feel any scars or stitches, so they didn't do surgery on me. But if what he said is true… I must've died the moment it hit me! How am I still here?

"But the weirdest thing happened," Jaune continued, leaning towards me with a smile on his face. "The pieces of you turned into rose petals. Eventually, those rose petals built you back together, and now you're here with us, alive." I stared at him for a moment. "You don't believe me? Everybody else was there too. They all saw it." He scratched his head, nervous. "And, uh, I saw your mom. I think." My eyes widened.

"So I'm not insane! My mom is alive!" I let out a relieved laugh. "Did she say anything to you? Did she show herself to everybody else?" His grin dropped.

"Ruby." He looked down at the floor. "I was the only one to see her. She helped me destroy the Ursa. You were saying stuff about how your mom protected you right after you rebuilt yourself. I saw her, but everybody else thought that you were shaken up from the blow. They thought you were having delusions. I don't know, but I think we're seeing the ghost of your mom." I paled.

"But— No. That can't be. She must've protected me then and there. She cupped my cheek earlier. My Mom's watching over me, over us!"

"And I don't think you're wrong." Jaune pulled himself up into a sitting position. "She is protecting you, but not directly. The rose petals, they must have something to do with her. Your ability to turn your body into flowers: that must be her doing." He looked behind my back before turning pale. "What in the— That's her right now!" He drew his hand back. "I swore she wasn't here earlier!"

I glanced behind me, spotting a cloaked figure floating behind me. Now that I think of it, why did she always stand behind me? Does she not want me to see that she's just a ghost? This time, however, she floated in front of me. The familiar lips smiled at me, but now I regarded her with a bit of doubt. Before I thought this was my mom, but today something's changed.

"Who are you?" I asked. With that answer, she lifted her hands out of the cloak. They weren't human at all; they were more angular and unnatural instead of round. They were white, with red stripes running on the backhand.

" _My apologies,_ " she spoke. The voice sounded a bit like my mom if it was more robotic. " _I did not intend on deceiving you. I am not the woman Summer Rose, as you think I am. That is simply the form you gave me._ "

"Me?" I asked. With that, she lifted the hood off of her head. I gasped. The lower mouth still had a pale humanoid look, but the rest of her face is covered with what looks like a mask. The mask part was crimson red, aside from the eyes, which is pure silver with lines running down the eyeballs. She threw the cloak behind her, revealing her body. She had a slender figure with parts that resemble armor attached to certain parts of her limbs. Her body was mainly snow white with scarlet highlights adorning her body. A thick ribbon with my emblem ran down both of her arms, stopping right before her wrist. Shoulder guards with adorned with crosses completed her look.

" _I am a Stand,_ " she stated. All I could do was stare at the ethereal form in front of me. " _Born from the core of your soul. You named me_ **「** _ **RED LIKE ROSES.**_ **」** _I serve to protect you._ "

I sat up. Red Like Roses, wasn't that the song that I had in my mind? Does that mean the song is my soul? I leaned towards the Stand. "How did I get you?"

She turned to stare at the door. " _The Arrow. It awakens the core within your soul, and I am born. Once I exist, you control me through your willpower. Only the strong-willed can control Stands._ " So I had her ever since I got cut by the Arrow? That explains all of my talks with my mom. That's my Stand I was talking to. I curled up into a ball. And I thought that Mom was still alive. She floated over to me. " _My appearance. You love your mother a lot?_ " I nodded. " _She must be a good person to have such an effect on you. She still lives on in you. Me being here says so._ "

My Stand looked over to Jaune, who stayed silent up until now. " _You can see me too, don't you?_ " He nodded, jaw dropping. " _Another Stand user. One where the Stand is part of your body, too. Interesting indeed._ " She floated around the boy, inspecting him. " _What is your Stand name?_ "

"I don't know, ma'am." He covered himself with the blanket, looking insecure at the floating Stand looking around him. "I didn't even know that I'm a user until today."

" _Think hard. There must be something that your soul is drawn to you. What resonates with you?_ "

Jaune grabbed his hair and closed his eyes, thinking hard. "… Weakness. Stories of normal people rising up to become great. I was an everyday boy before— Wait." He opened his eyes again. "I felt something, saying those words. Everyday boy. It's like music to my ears." He looked up. "That's my Stand name, right?"

My Stand nodded. " **「** _ **EVERYDAY BOY.**_ **」** _An interesting Stand name._ " The sound of rustling caught our attention. We looked over to the door. Somebody's opening it. Without another word, my Stand disappeared. The door opened, revealing Headmaster Ozpin standing in the door frame.

"Good evening, students." I glanced at the clock. Six o'clock. Was it already evening? When did we come back? Our Headmaster walked into the space between our beds. "I'm glad to see that everyone's awake. It makes this debriefing a lot easier. Your teammates already did their report, but now I wanted to hear from you two." He grabbed a nearby chair, flipping it around before seating himself on it. "Now, I heard about how you two both lost your Auras fighting against the Jambavan."

"The what?" Jaune and I said at once.

"The Ancient Grimm. It was the heavily armored one if the descriptions are correct. It's concerning to see an Ancient Grimm wake up so close to Vale, but now I'm getting off topic. I heard that Ms. Rose was… taken out of commission after taking another blow from the Grimm." I winced. That must've been horrifying for Jaune. "What happened after that, Mr. Arc?"

"Well…" Jaune rubbed his hair, thinking. "… I managed to get a second wind, and fought against the Grimm face to face." He looked at me for a moment with a bit of doubt into his eyes before looking back. "I must've found my Semblance because I managed to make the Ursa less dense."

The headmaster raised his eyebrows. "Making something less dense?"

"I don't know how to describe it, but when I pulled at this feeling in my soul, I somehow made the Ursa light enough for me to pierce through its armor, killing it."

"Hmm…" Ozpin looked thoughtful. "That's interesting. You managed to find your Semblance and use it despite having no Aura?"

"It's weird, but that's the best way I can describe it!" Jaune stuck his hands out. "I'm telling you what I did and saw!"

"Mr. Arc, it's fine. I trust your judgment." Ozpin turned to me. "Now after the battle, teams JNPR and RWBY reported seeing your condition, and stated that your head reformed due to… rose petals?"

I nodded. "I don't really know, but if everybody said that it happened, I'll agree with them."

"Hmm… Again, another usage of a Semblance without Aura." Ozpin took a sip from his mug before getting up. "Thank you. That's all I have to ask. Considering your current level of recovery, we can release you in the morning. However, you know how the current medical policy works. You're on medical leave until Monday." He left the two of us alone. The second the door snapped shut, I felt something in my soul. Like a loose string. I imagined pulling that string with my willpower, and **「** _ **RED LIKE ROSES**_ **」**

reappeared.

"Jaune, why didn't you tell him about the Stands?" I stuck my hand out. "About what happened with my Stand? Wouldn't it help everybody figure what's going on?"

"Well, think about it. You saw your Stand for weeks, and everybody thought you were having delusions." The blonde let out a sigh. "I think it's better to keep it secret. Nobody will think that we're insane, and besides, nobody else could see them anyways. There's no way to prove what we can see."

"I guess." I looked over to my floating Stand. "What was my ability? Everybody keeps saying that my head reformed from rose petals. Then the thing with my arm a few weeks back—"

"Wait, what arm thing?" Jaune asked.

I bit my lip. "... I didn't tell anybody, but when I got released two weeks ago, when I went into my room, my arm fell off." His eyes widened at my confession. "The ends of the limbs were petal shaped. In a panic, I stuck it back in my arm before you guys came in. By the time you guys left, my arm was back in place. So what is it?"

" _Ah. It is similar to your Semblance._ " She raised her hand up." _Your Semblance I believe allows you to move quickly, with the side effect of creating rose petals. Your Stand ability reflects that in a way. You can transform any part of your body into rose petals._ "

"Really?" I looked at my hands and willed them to break apart. I watched as my fingers started to peel away, turning into rose petals before flying away. "Oh geez!" I willed them to come back and the petals responded, sticking to the stubs where my fingers used to be. They solidified back into fingers. I wiggled them. All of them work just fine. "Wow. Just…wow."

" _It is something that you need to get used to._ " My Stand floated towards me. " _The experience is very… bizarre, beyond comprehension._ " So this is how I survived the blow. I turned my head into rose petals, and the Ursa passed through the cluster with me unharmed. Once it was safe, I built myself together almost by instinct. I looked at the Stand.

"So I can bring you here by willing you to come out?" She nodded. "Thank you." The Stand disappeared from sight. I turned over to Jaune. "So what now?"

"I'd say we rest first. It's going to take a while for our Auras to be back in tip top shape. But after that, we need to find the Arrow." He threw his head onto the pillow. "What would happen if that arrow awakened more Stand users? What if they're bad people? We can't let any more people receive Stands. So, we need to get the Arrow before it could cause even more havoc."

I nodded. "You're right. Besides, what will happen if a person doesn't have the willpower to control their Stand? What will happen? No, the best thing is exactly what you said: get the Arrow." I laid back down. "Good night, Jaune. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah. You too." He shuffled around in his bed. "You too."

⇐ _ **TO BE CONTINUED= March 17, 2017**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post song references for those who want to hear the songs I mention.
> 
> Ruby's 「RED LIKE ROSES」is a reference to, you guessed it, Jeff and Casey Lee Williams' Red Like Roses. This is more for the JoJo fans, but it's a symphonic rock that is iconic within the RWBY fanbase. This is Ruby's theme, which is why I chose it. For anybody who paid attention to the review responses, this will be the only Stand that will reference a song from RWBY.
> 
> Jaune's 「EVERYDAY BOY」is a reference to Joan Armatrading's Everyday Boy. It's a pop song released in 1995. I chose this name for three reasons. One, it highlights Jaune's role as the everyday man in the show (at least in V1). Two, it's a song whose lyrics is about a normal person looking up to others with jealousy and looking down on themselves with shame. Finally, the singer's name. Really, what are the odds? Joan Armatrading. That's really close to his inspiration of Joan of Arc! It's a match made in heaven.


	6. Veiled in Gray

A heavy book landed on the table with a small thump. I cracked my neck as I brought my hand back to the other book in my lap. Moments later, Ruby plopped down with another stack of books, grabbing one from the top of her pile before cracking it open. Her face grimaced as she started reading the large text. My fingers clicked against the table and my eyelids started fluttering. I snapped back awake right as my head started to bob. Come on, Jaune. Try to focus!

I groaned as I glanced through the wall of text that sat in front of me. The page of words started to blend together in my mind, becoming a mash of disjointed ideas that I couldn't understand. I tried to pull the words back into sentences, but my brain doesn't want to cooperate. Everything feels like mush at this point. By my side was the girl in red and black, flipping through a book of her own. She looked just as bored as I am, using her breath to blow at the pages. Ruby looked just about ready to collapse and sleep right there.

Maybe I'm just exhausted right now. I leaned back and took a deep breath in. It's just study fatigue hitting me hard. Remember what Pyrrha said about dealing with that. Look away from the book, take a brief break, and let the information settle in your mind. My eyes glanced up at the ceiling of the library. Huh. There's a painting on the ceiling, like in those old Mistralian temples.

It was an image of two god-like deities, fighting against each other. Dark colors clashed against light for domination, forming an unusual spectrum of colors. Creatures of various shapes sprung out from each of those colors, filling up the ceiling space with their image. Despite the huge contrast between the dark and bright shades of color, the balance in shading felt… right. It would feel wrong for the dark colors to be dominant, as well as the light. They worked in tandem in order to make something beautiful.

My hand reached out for the book I threw earlier. I lifted it up, checking its weight. It felt lighter, a lot lighter. So my ability only keeps working when I'm holding the item. If I let go, then it'll return back to its original density. That's a limit I'm going to need to keep in mind. The reading fell out of my hands and back onto the table.

Okay, enough of all of the distractions! I threw myself back at work, taking another glance at my book. I smiled. Just like that, I could see every sentence again! It really does work! I should really thank my partner for this trick. And I should use this more often. Maybe I'd do better in class. Now rested and focused, I scooped up the book, looking for anything about the arrow. My good mood dropped as I scanned the pages. Nothing. No write-ups about the Arrow, no theories about Stands, just more useless filler! And this was supposed to be a book on the supernatural? Somebody should've come across the Stands!

To think that the day we get out of the nurse's office, the first thing we do was hit the library and read up on anything on the arrow! It'll be helpful, I said. We might pick up something about the Stands, I said. We have the entire Friday off, and after hours we still don't have anything!

I groaned as I slammed the book shut, tossing it into the ever increasing pile of unhelpful readings.

Ruby must've come to the same conclusion, yawning before snapping her own copy shut. "Hey Jaune," she whispered, glancing at the receptionist table two tables away from us. "Did you find anything yet?"

"Not yet." I tapped a finger against the wooden table. "I haven't found anything helpful. All of the scientific articles are either non-serious experiments or just crazy cult talk. You?"

"The closest thing I found to anything helpful were ancient fairy tales." She glanced through a small pile next to her before pulling a book out and offering it to me. Guardian Angels, it said on a dark brown leather cover. "The way this book describes guardian angels reminds me of Stands, but after that, it goes off on a random tangent. Nothing about Stand abilities, or Arrows." She tossed the book on a table. "Ugh!" she grunted.

"Shh!" We both jumped to see the librarian glaring at us. Her index finger rested on her puckered lips as she gave us her warning.

"Sorry!" I whispered. I turned back to my fellow team leader. "Ruby, it's ten o'clock. We've been in here for three hours already, and we still found nothing! Do you think that we should end our search for today?"

"Weren't you the one to suggest this idea in the first place?" Her voice was barely a whisper now.

"Well, yeah, turns out it wasn't a helpful idea." I got up from my seat. "Come on. There aren't any well-written sources on Stands. Maybe they're more of a 'learn as you use them' kind of power." I started for the door.

"Wait, Jaune! Wait for a—" She let out a big sigh behind me. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we got somewhere important to be— yeah, I know. We'll make it up to you— goodbye!" Just as the door closed shut, Ruby blew it back open with her Semblance, catching up to me with her super speed. "Jaune!" she hissed. "We just left the librarian to deal with the mess we made!"

I blinked. "Oh, we did?" My face paled. "We did."

"We had entire stacks of books laying on the table and the ground, and we just left without putting it away!"

"Well, that's going to be awkward later on." I scratched the back of my head as we walked across campus. "I guess I'll figure out a way to make it up to her later. What were we talking about earlier? Oh yeah!." I pointed at her. "There's a big chance that Stands is something that everybody keeps secret if they have it. That includes us. So that might be why there aren't any written sources. So, we have to learn how to use them the old fashioned way."

Ruby raised her eyebrows in interest. "So what do you suggest?"

"Well, I was thinking we should just try and use it, and see what happens. I did a bit of testing with **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** earlier. Basically, I can change the density of anything I touch, but there's some interesting stuff I found out about this." I fished out a paper clip in my pocket. "Density is just mass over volume, right? Turns out, I can affect both of those numbers." The paper clip shrunk in my hand until it was the size of my pinkie fingernail. "The volume has gone down, and mass increased, so now I can do this."

I flicked the paper clip at the wall. We both flinched as the wall cracked on impact, flinging bits of plaster at us. The sound of someone yelling followed shortly. "Okay…" I let out a nervous laugh. "I didn't expect that to happen. Sorry, whoever's there!" My face turned towards the girl. "How much testing did you do with **「** **RED LIKE ROSES,** **」** Ruby?"

"Not much. I know I can separate my limbs from my body, but I've never gotten the chance to actually see just what I can do with it." Ruby shrugged her shoulders as she gave me an awkward grin. "I mean, how many people in Remnant do you know who can remove and reattach themselves like machines?"

"Hmm… good point." I rubbed the base of my chin. "But what could we do that— Oh! I know!" I turned towards my friend. "Maybe we could go reserve a training room and have a spar!" She gave me a weird stare. I continued: "Here's the thing. We know nothing about our Stands beside what abilities they have and their names."

I threw my hands out as we walked down the hallway. "We should learn what we can do and cannot do with our Stands. It might be the difference between life and death if we ever needed to use them in a fight. It's a good time to experiment with what you can do with your Stand. And besides, Crescent Rose is still in the sea, right?"

She nodded. "Don't know why it's taking so long to fish it out," the girl muttered. Her eyes widened. "Unless... oh no! Do you think Crescent Rose broke up into hundreds of pieces? Then there's no wonder they couldn't get it after a day!" She threw her hands up to her face as she teared up in sorrow. "Oh, my precious baby! My poor sniper scythe might be shattered!"

I frowned. Now that I think of it, this was one of the few times when Crescent Rose isn't close to Ruby, whether in person or by the rocket lockers. For the first time ever, she's weaponless. The relationship between Crescent Rose and Ruby was different than how most weapons Huntsmen use. Most treat weapons like an extension of themselves. But Crescent Rose, that's as real as a person to the girl. And seeing her cry over realizing this…

A sigh escaped my mouth as I placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ruby, I really do. I wish we can do more, but we can't. All we could do is figure out what to do from here. And what you need is to learn how to fight with your Stand. You're going to need to learn how to fight with it anyways because if we don't get your scythe back before we go back to combat class, you can't fend against anybody in our class." She winced at the statement, before wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"... That's true. I'm defenseless without a weapon. I know Yang tried to teach me boxing, but it's just not for me. Maybe this is a good time to learn an alternate fighting method. At least until I can get the pieces of Crescent Rose back." She perked back up, all of the tears in her eyes gone. How did she recover so quickly? "Come on, Jaune! Let's go!"

We only walked for a couple of minutes before she scratched the back of her head. "What can I do with my ability?" A mischievous smile flew across her face. "Yeah… maybe that will work." The girl looked at me. "You know, when I was young, my Dad used to tease me and pretend he can take off his own thumb. I remember crying when I thought he lost a thumb before laughing when I realized the truth."

"Uhh…" I swallowed. "Okay… Why do you mention that—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Ruby snatched her thumb and pulled it off. Small rose petals took the place of blood as the finger separated from her hand. A red bud formed where the stump would be. The finger wiggled and squirmed under her fingers like a worm trying to escape from the ground. It took all of the willpower I had to keep nausea down. She looked conflicted with the sight, her face a mix between creeped out and amazed. "Wow… That's… I don't even know."

"Disgusting?" My hand flew to my mouth. "Ugh, that's not a pleasant sight to see. It doesn't help that I know that it's still part of you." I looked away. "Ruby put the thing back! Put it back!"

The girl did, re-attaching the limb like it was nothing. She rolled the finger around. "That's so weird. So I can still use anything that I separate from my body." A hand clamped over her mouth. "My gods… I can recreate The Hand!"

My eyebrows flew up in confusion. "Wha?"

"You know, The Hand! Remember the book series Journals of the Weakling Boy? In the books, they have this fictional movie called The Hand, which is basically a decapitated hand that does nothing but crawl on the ground and chokes people in their sleep!" Her hands shook as she held them up in front of her face. "Yang used to scare me all the time with that story! Wouldn't it be fun if we—"

"No."

She let out a whine. "You didn't even—"

"Again, no." I looked at her. "I don't know, it doesn't feel right. We have supernatural powers that break every rule in the universe. It doesn't feel right to use that to scare people."

"Aww… Now that you say that, that makes a lot of sense." Ruby placed her palm on her cheeks. "That's a stupid thing to use this power for. Plus, didn't I say yesterday that we're trying to prevent this kind of power from destroying the world? That includes us as well. We can't abuse these powers and— I'm sorry that I even thought that!" She muttered something under her breath.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing!" Ruby waved away the thought. "Let's just get over and let's figure out what we can do with these powers." And with that, we continued our walk in silence.

* * *

Before we knew it, Jaune and I stopped in front of one of the practice rooms. The shiny metallic door stood out against the stony concrete structure it was based around. I perked up as we came to a stop. "Here we are! So, how are we going to do this?"

He pulled out his scroll, placed it against the door and inputted a couple of things. "We'll lock the door so that nobody can walk in. I think that's the last thing we need: somebody walking in to see you break apart or something like that." I nodded as the bolt unlocked itself, causing the door to pop open. Jaune offered a hand. "After you."

"Oh, stop it!" I giggled, slapping his hand away as I walked into the combat room. There was a feeling of comfort as the huge spotlights came on, illuminating the giant room. On one side, there were bleachers for any viewers. On the other side rested a giant panel where a scoreboard would be displayed, if it was on. The rest of the room was dedicated to combat. Concrete formed the majority of the building, giving off a gloomy look. Some colorful posters of various famous hunters hung on the massive walls, which livened up the room a bit.

My feet stopped as I reached the middle of the arena as my eyes took in the hunter's names. Names such as Carolina Windham, Peridot Castro, and several other tournament winners caught my eye. Above their names was a colored silhouette of the victor with their emblem printed on their hearts. Back when I was in Signal, I could only dream of learning in the same academy that produced these kinds of people. And now I'm here in Beacon!

A sigh escaped my mouth as my eyes stopped at one poster. Summer Rose, 28th Winner. I stared at the silhouette of my hooded mother with the heart of a rose. Dad said that how Mom became champion their year was unusual. She wasn't much for winning the championship. Originally, Uncle Qrow and Yang's mom was supposed to go to the doubles tournament. However, Yang's mom had to drop out because she happened to catch some kind of bird flu, and Dad volunteered to take her back to Beacon, leaving Mom and Uncle Qrow to compete. Qrow decided to let Mom continue on to the singles match, and now she's hanging on the side of the training room for the rest of time. Weird how things work sometimes.

I took my eyes off of the poster and bounced on the heels of my feet as I stood in the center of the gray arena. Jaune was still on his scroll trying to activate the scoreboard showing our Aura levels. With a final press of a button, the screen came to life. The UI appeared quickly, displaying Jaune on the left side and me on the right. A satisfied feeling emerged as I watched the Aura bars fill up to one hundred percent.

"So, how is this going to work?" I asked, crossing my arms as he met me in the arena roughly ten meters away from me. How did I bring out my Stand last time? I just have to will it to come out, right? Like back in the nurse's office. With a slight tug at my soul, **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** popped out of thin air. The action felt a lot easier than last time; I didn't have to think too hard to bring my Stand out. The motherly Stand floated behind me, letting her cloak flutter through the air. I glanced at the scoreboard. My Aura's still at one hundred percent. "What are we going to try out?"

"Well, how about interaction?" Jaune pulled out Crocea Mors before tossing it by my feet. It landed a meter away from me. "Can your Stand grab stuff?"

"Okay, that's a good start." But how do I get my Stand to grab the sword? Maybe I think about grabbing it. I threw dagger eyes at the blade, imagining myself picking Crocea Mors by the handle. Nothing. My Stand still floated around behind me, again choosing to keep her silence. How about willpower? Maybe I have to want to do something. If I placed my willpower into **「** **RED LIKE ROSES,** **」** maybe she will do something.

The moment I wanted to pick it up, my Stand moved away from her spot behind me towards the fallen sword. With a deft scoop, she lifted the blade off of the ground. That's interesting. If we want something to happen, the Stand will act to make it happen. "Alright, Jaune." **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** tossed the family blade back to its owner. The boy stepped to the side to dodge Crocea Mors before picking it up. "So Stands could pick up things. What if I wanted to attack? What would my Stand do?"

"I don't really know," he said, holding his shield up. For a moment, I thought I saw a glow start to surround Jaune. But it faded as quickly as it started. Did he summon his Stand? He gave me a nod to go. "But let's find out." He banged the sword on his shield. "Hit me."

" **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " I shouted. My Stand flew towards the boy at breakneck speeds, reaching him before I finished saying my Stand's name. The sudden appearance caused him to flinch back before he righted himself. A fist flew out of the flying cloud of white cloth, crashing into the Arc emblem within milliseconds of my command with a clang. I heard a grunt from him as he took a couple of steps back. My mouth dropped open. That exchange happened in a fraction of a second.

"My gods, Ruby, that was fast." He lowered down his shield arm. "And from ten meters away… you can ambush a person with your Stand. But that hit… it actually wasn't that bad."

I raised my eyebrows. "What?"

"Yeah, it's stronger than Yang's hits, but it wasn't overwhelming like I expected. It's a manageable blow. And I'm not using my Stand ability here, this is just me taking the blow. But if I did use it…" He heaved the shield up again. Jaune looked a lot more solid, and I'm not talking about his form. His body actually looked denser, even though there's no change to his figure! "Hit me again, Ruby, but multiple times."

As he finished those words, **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** threw a jab at him, smashing into it again. This time he's not budging. It felt like bashing against a solid plate of titanium. With a cry, my Stand sent a barrage of fists his way, each landing on his shield to little or no effect. If anything, the concrete ground was giving up first, shafting and splintering as his feet made a long gash through the floor. A bit of powder flew into the air, staining his jeans in the process.

All of a sudden, I felt a yank on my soul. My Stand was swinging at Jaune, but no matter what, she can't get any closer to the boy. He lowered his shield and raised his eyebrow in surprise. Maybe there's a range limit for Stands. I took a couple of steps closer and just like that, my Stand can easily reach him again.

"My Stand has a range!" I yelled to my companion. "It looks like **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** can be ten or so meters away from me!" Another glance revealed that our Aura levels didn't change. We're both still at one hundred percent. "How about you try attacking my Stand, Jaune? Try going on the offensive this time."

"Alright. Let's get Red Like—" He paused for a moment. "Umm, shouldn't we come up with a nickname for your Stand? I mean, saying Red Like Roses over and over would get annoying."

I rubbed the base of my chin. Maybe that would be a good idea. I don't really need to say the full name unless I needed her to do something. "How about just Rose?"

"Rose works. Alright." He widened his stance as Rose circled around him. Her hands were held up in a guarding position. Neither opponent made any big moves.

"I'm ready when you're ready, Jaune. Go ahead and attack at any time."

He nodded, taking several deep breaths before pouncing, swinging his sword in a wide arc. The cut he made came short, missing Rose by a couple of inches. Jaune groaned as he pushed at the Stand, slicing with near abandon. Crocea Mors became a silver blur, cutting through the air and the concrete with ease. But despite all of his efforts, all Rose had to do was float back in order to dodge the onslaught.

Before we knew it, Jaune stepped back. Sweat ran down his face as he stared down the opponent. "Oh gods, she's fast! Rose's dodging everything I'm throwing at her! Even I managed to get a few hits into Pyrrha!" His eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe I'm going at this wrong. I have to think smarter than this. But what can I do—!" Jaune's eyes widened. His shield arm flew to his pockets before pulling out… something. Whatever he grabbed, he gripped it in a tight fist for a couple of seconds. What was he trying to—

With a flick of a thumb, the leader of team JNPR shot a tiny object at Rose at breakneck speeds. My eyes widened. The paper clip! Didn't that manage to pierce a solid wall? The cloaked Stand threw a hand out to knock away the flying projectile. At the same time, Jaune rushed towards her in a lunge. Right as she redirected the paper clip, Jaune stabbed Rose in the hand.

His aim was true as the blade drew a small amount of blood from Rose. A split second later, I felt a cut moving through my hand. I gasped in surprise as blood shot out from my right palm, nearly spraying me. I clenched my wrist in pain, keeling forwards. Jaune, seeing this, dropped the sword and started over to me. "Ruby! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I stated beneath gritted teeth. "I'm just surprised, that's all. Somehow I managed to get cut even my Aura on." My eyes flew to the scoreboard to still see my Aura levels at one hundred percent. Huh? Nothing's changed? I called back my Stand. The second she faded out of sight, I saw the red glow of my Aura surround the cut, pulling the skin back together before my very eyes. Within moments, the wound sealed up, leaving no scar behind.

"Hey Ruby, look up at the scoreboard." I did, catching my meter go down roughly two percent. "From the looks of it, our Auras won't protect us while our Stands are out." Jaune walked over to me. "Rose did say that Stands are the core of our soul, right?" I nodded. "Call it a hunch, but when we project our Stands outward, they must take our Aura with them. That's why you got cut when I hit your Stand. Then there's the matter of only affecting you when my Stand hit yours. Maybe Stands can only hurt other Stands."

"That makes a lot of sense," I hummed, thinking about what we've learned. "At least we know that if we get hurt, we can always bring our Stand back. That's going to make healing easy." I looked up at the boy. "But you know what?" I summoned **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** back out. "Let's have an actual spar." I stiffened my body, sticking out my hand and waggling it like in those ninja movies. "You come after me. Don't hold back, okay?"

"Alright, Ruby." Jaune held his shield up, kneeling down to snatch his weapon back up. He pushed off, rushing towards me with his sword arm up. It looks like he might start off with an overhead slice to my left. Easy enough to dodge. I tried calling on my Semblance. Nothing happened. My face twisted in panic as I saw Crocea Mors come down on me. Oh crud! My usual dodge was replaced with a dive. The blade scraped across the back of my skirt, but otherwise there wasn't too much damage.

My hands slammed against the ground as I pulled myself up. A squeak came out of my mouth as I took a backstep. A deadly arc swung where I stood a second later. Okay, so I can't use my Semblance while my Stand's out. A sidestep made his jab miss its mark. Rose flew towards Jaune, fists upraised for a beating. His kite shield swung out to receive her, blocking another barrage that carved craters within the steel. A swing of his blade kept me from going in. That's not good. At this point, nobody's going to get anywhere. I need to trick him somehow. But how— my ability!

Rose pulled back, freeing him to make another attack. A yell escaped his mouth as he ran towards me, making a vertical cut this time. I shifted my weight to balance myself better, ready to receive his blow. I bit my lip. This might hurt.

The metal blade sank into my shoulder, sending rose petals into the air. Before I knew it, my left arm flew off, decapitated by Jaune's weapon. I looked at the stub. My skin looked scaly, like rose petals about to fly away from the flower. The bud of a vibrant red rose replaced what would be bone and muscle on the end. Bits of my Aura sparked in little electric arcs; most likely to keep my tissue alive. He gasped as the limb landed a meter away from him, ballooning his cheeks as he turned green.

With that Rose flew forwards, landing a punch on his face and knocking him off of his feet. He coughed out a bit of blood before standing back up. So he had his Stand out, just like me. From the corner of my eye, the limb peeled up into red and white rose petals, floating back towards my stub. Within seconds, they rebuilt my arm back onto my body. Just in case, I rolled the shoulder. It's like it was never decapitated.

"Now that's not fair," Jaune muttered as he wiped the blood off of his chin. "Can't believe you got me with that."

"Yeah, it isn't fair," I replied, hopping in place as I waited for him to recover. "But it did break the stalemate. Ready for another go?"

The boy didn't say another word, sheathing his sword before throwing himself back into combat. He started by swinging his right fist at Rose. She easily blocked the blow with her forearms. His form wasn't nearly as organized as Yang; it's a lot more sloppy. However, they did have an effect. I winced as I felt the punches bruise my arms. His face grimaced as he through his volley of fists, hoping for… something to happen. Whatever it was, I couldn't figure it out.

Eventually, he swung a bit harder than he should have, leaning a bit further in the follow through. My Stand's knees crashed into his stomach, lifting him into the air. I could see spit fly out from his mouth as his body curled up. Rose followed up with a haymaker into Jaune's chest. I could hear the sounds of bone cracking as the blow sent him flying into a wall. A wall of dust flew into the air around where he landed, hiding him from my sights. What was he planning to do?

* * *

I felt my lungs fill with dusted concrete as I struggled to stand up after that hit. This battle's not doing well for me. I felt my Aura knit my broken bones back together. Good thing I called back the Stand before she launched me. The cloud's going to buy me some time.

None of the cards are stacked my way, that's to be sure. Ruby can split apart into petals, which means weapons are out of the question. She'll fake an injury, spook me, and then land a hit on me while I'm distracted. But what about non-lethal methods? She's only split into rose petals two times: when I cut through her and when the Ancient Ursa smashed her head open. Both would kill a person. But if I can beat her into submission… maybe that might be her weakness.

The problem is fighting **「** **RED LIKE ROSES.** **」** Her Stand has a range of ten meters, which is pretty far. That means if I could get past Ruby's Stand, I'm not going to make it even a meter before Rose catches up. Alternatively, I could attack Rose, but I also know that she can hit me harder than Yang. I could handle the Stand with **「** **EVERYDAY BOY,** **」** but knowing my fights against Yang, I'm going to lose no matter what. I have to get Ruby.

Then there's the issue of my Stand ability. Having the ability to change the density of any object I touch is great. But that's the problem: it only affects objects that I happen to be touching. The second I let go, the object will slowly revert back to its original density. If I use **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** on Rose… wait… it might work. I have no idea if it works on a Stand, but I can weigh down the cloak! Ruby would have to pull Rose back to defend herself, but I could end the fight before she does that. I hope.

It's kinda weird thinking about beating up your best friend, but since Rose is her only weapon, we have to learn what weaknesses Ruby might have and fast. The cloud of cover around me is quickly settling down. My eyes darted back and forth, looking for the hooded Stand, before landing on the floating cloak a meter to my right. She's outside my cloud of debris, still looking for a sign of me. I took a deep breath. Sorry Ruby, but I this is for your own good.

In my head, I counted to three before charging out of the cloud of dust, grabbing the cloak before Rose or her user could realize it and throwing myself onto the ground. The second I wrapped my fingers around it, I felt my Stand channel its energy into the fabric. And with that, the cloak sank to the ground with a thud, snagging Rose down with it. From the other side of the building, Ruby yelled as she herself was yanked to the ground. So anything that happens to the Stand can happen to the user as well. That's nice to know.

My eyes flew back to the struggling Rose. Again, I don't have much time after I let go, but I think I can run ten meters and hit Ruby before her Stand gets back up. I pushed myself up into a sprint, charging the prone girl. Her eyes widened and she tried to roll out of the way. She wasn't fast enough. A grunt left her mouth as I felt my foot sink into her stomach, flinging her into the air. She floated in the air for a brief moment, providing me with a perfect chance to hit her.

One of my fists winded back for another punch when I noticed her legs dissolving into rose petals. Wait a minute. Why is she breaking down those? I know that I didn't hit her there— Before I could think about it further, I felt heavy boots smash into the back of my knees, sending me careening to the ground. I pulled **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** back, wincing as I braced for impact. This was going to hurt.

My face smashed into the ground with a decent amount of force, causing my Aura to flare and earning a groan out of me. Ugh… oww… I gotta get back up before Ruby— Wait, shouldn't Ruby be landing on me? That means—

I flipped my body over so that I faced the ceiling and swung a fist at the still falling Ruby. This time it dug into her shoulders, causing her to cry out. The punch instead carried her body over my head to somewhere. I scrambled back to my feet, glancing behind me for whatever hit the back of my knees. The last parts of her severed leg disappeared back into petals, already flying back towards the downed girl. So she can reform body parts away from herself. Instead of pressing my advantage, I took a couple of steps back, allowing Ruby to get back up. I must've been five meters away from her.

We both looked at each other, both of our breaths labored. "Why… why don't we stop here?" I asked, wiping the sweat off of my brow. "I think we had enough fighting for now. Let's call it a draw."

"... Wait… One more thing first…" Her skin became scaly before my eyes. She ran towards me as fast as her legs can carry her. With a yelp, I unfolded my shield as I stepped backward. She got within three meters from me before exploding, sending her rose petals in my direction. The floral pieces of her drifted towards my direction in a carefree pace. It sent shivers down my spine.

Was she trying to attack me with her petals? Or was she going to create another limb to hit me with? I scooted up against a wall, taking care to not let any big gaps to exist between me and the structure. Now I should be able to see what she's trying to do without any surprises. I pressed my shield into my chest, eyes looking at the stream of rose petals. They floated towards me a couple more meters before stopping, content in staying in one place. What was she planning?

Before I can figure out what Ruby was doing, I felt a fist hit me in the side, knocking me off balance. That's impossible! I didn't see a single petal move towards me! There shouldn't be a fist. I looked to the side where the hit came from, only to drop my jaw in surprise. I forgot about Rose! The petals are a ruse to get her Stand into position! The Stand threw one more fist, this time at my jaw. A small grin formed on my face as I closed my eyes. I guess that means I lose.

But the hit never came. One, two seconds passed without feeling anything touch me. I lifted one eye open. Her fist didn't collide with me, instead hovering a couple of centimeters away from my face. Rose backed off, floating back to her reforming user. Ruby had a big grin on her face as her skin merged back together. With a smile, I held out a hand to the victorious girl.

"Hey, good match, Ruby. That was a pretty good trick you pulled off there." She beamed at that, leaping and gripping me in a death hug. I stumbled as she squealed in delight.

"Thanks, Jaune! You weren't so bad yourself."

"Nah, compared to you, not really." She looked up from where she hung from me.

"I mean it! It might be an accident, but you yanking down Rose with your ability, all to get to me, that was smart!" The tiny girl finally released me from her grip. "You were at a disadvantage from the start without any Stand you can use to attack, but you still managed to hold up against me!" She glanced at her hands. "You showed us that we need to not only understand these powers; we have to also be smart with them!"

The young girl's face turned to a frown. My smile dropped as well. "What's wrong, Ruby?"

"... I don't know, Jaune. I— I guess I'm just worried. It's cool having Rose by my side and all that, but… how are people going to react when they see my ability? Are they going to panic? Get grossed out? It— It just doesn't feel right with me." She sighed. "Maybe it's just me, but I kinda hope that I would never have to use Rose. I mean, I do want to be a hero, but I also want to be a normal person, and—" Ruby groaned as she wrapped her hand around her forehead. "It's all so confusing!"

"Yeah, it is confusing. I don't know why we have these powers, or why you happened to come across the Arrow. It doesn't make sense." I scratched my hair. "But one thing does make sense: we can't ignore the fact that we have Stands anyways." I glanced down at the ruined floor. "You know, I feel the same way. I hope I never have to fight somebody with my Stand. But hey, at least you're not alone in this." I jabbed a thumb at my chest. "You got good ol' Jaune here by your side!"

Ruby smiled. "Thanks." She held out a fist. "Fistbump?"

"Fistbump." Our fists met. A quick whiff of my body caused me to wrinkle my nose. "Man, I'm all sweaty. Come on, let's get cleaned up before we head back out." She raised her eyebrows in suspicion. Oh… that came out wrong. "Not in that way!"

* * *

I let out a long sigh as I walked back to the RWBY dorm room by my lonesome. A quick look at my scroll revealed that it was five o'clock in the evening. Jaune already went ahead of me, saying he had to meet up with his team. Something about a team dinner. I wouldn't have minded walking and talking with him a little more, but oh well.

A sigh escaped my mouth. That was a really good spar. I think I got a good handle on what I can do with **「** **RED LIKE ROSES.** **」** My ability to split into roses is defensive at best, but Rose makes up for that as my offensive option.

Now that I think of it, what else can I do with my rose petals? Yeah, they seem unhelpful to have at first, but if I can figure out some more tricks out of it, my abilities can act like a multi-tool knife. But what can I do with rose petals? I know that I can move my limbs independently from the body. If I had Crescent Rose, maybe I could try throwing my arms for a long distance shot! Ooh, that would be really cool!

Somebody bumped into me, causing me to yelp. I looked up to see a dark-skinned boy with scars along his arms. "Sorry about that," he muttered, stepping to the side before continuing on his way. Well, that was weird. What was I thinking about? Oh! I could maybe attach myself to the sides of buildings if I was ever in that kind of situation! Hmm… I wonder if I can make my rose petals sharp.

But enough of new ideas for now. I stood in front of my room. I don't know why I feel more nervous than usual, but for some reason, there's a sense of dread coming from the room. It's… menacing, to say the least. I shook my head, knocking the thoughts out of my mind. It's probably nothing. Don't get all worked up, Ruby. I tapped my scroll into the door. The lock mechanism turned green as I heard the lock click.

A pair of heads perked up as they saw me walk into the room. The two monochrome girls were both reading books at their respective desks. My partner had a giant tome labeled Logistics and Shipping in Vale: 3rd Edition. I mentally shook my head. Always the perfectionist. Didn't expect less from the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. Blake, on the other hand, had a more casual reading in her hands, more specifically, her favorite "romance" series. I struggled to hold back a grin.

"Hi guys!" I waved my hand as I moved towards my dresser. "How was your day?" Blake twitched at the question. Her amber eyes peered at me as if she thought I had some hidden message in my statement.

"Uh, good." The cat faunus set her book down before spinning her chair to face me. "Classes were like they always were."

"We brought you some notes from Port and Oobleck today," Weiss interjected. "But when we came back to the dorm, you were gone." The white haired girl let out a sigh as she bookmarked and closed her text. She gave me a stern glare that sent shivers down my spine. "You know you should be resting." At that the dark-haired girl leaned forwards, steepling her fingers.

"Where were you the whole entire day?" My head reeled back by the faunus girl's question. I just walked into an interrogation, did I? "Look, we're concerned about you, Ruby. There are so many strange things happening to you over the past month, and everybody's on edge. You getting up and leaving the dorm almost sent everybody into a panic."

Weiss let out a long sigh as she got up from her seat. "As hard as it is for me to show it, I'm still your partner, and I do care about you. This past month, something's been bothering you."

She hesitated for a moment, biting her lip. Did she find out about… "Is… Does it have something to do with your mother?" I blinked. "I know you might still be willing to think that your mom's still alive, but you have to—"

"Is this what it's about?" I asked. She froze in place as her voice failed her. I forgot that I thought that Mom was alive still. They must still think that it's still affecting me. I turned my head towards the ground. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. While I was in the nurse's office recovering, I had a lot of time to think to myself, and I guess I wasn't thinking straight." I let out a long sigh. "My Mom's not coming back to life. She never will come back into my life. I've accepted that."

The other two girls in my team looked at me, eyes glancing into my eyes. Weiss formed a fist with her hands for a moment before stomping over to me and wrapping her arms around me. A small gasp escaped my lips. "Ruby, this must be so painful to go through. I— I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything, Weiss." I returned the gesture, burying my face into her shoulder. "I had a long time to get used to this. There's no more need to worry about the past, I have team RWBY to take care of now." I glanced up to see Rose floating right next to Blake. The cat faunus didn't even as much as twitch when the Stand supposedly grazed the girl. A smile creeped up my face. "Mom might be gone, but her hopes and dreams live on with me. I'm going to be okay. Don't you worry, everyone."

From the corner of my eye, I caught a hint of yellow. I turned my head to look at the open dorm door. The person was gone from sight, walking away from the room. However, I didn't catch any footsteps. Whoever's behind the doorframe, they're still there, listening in. And I think that I know who's there.

"Yang?" I leaned towards the door frame. "I know you're there. Just come on in." My sister let out a sigh before stepping into the doorframe. She's wearing a black and yellow training bra and sweatpants, both with the logo of Beacon printed on. Beads of sweat glistened on her skin, likely from her Friday workout she likes to have to herself. Her lilac eyes had a downcast look on them, but only for a split second. They quickly became brighter and happy as the blonde let out a wide grin.

"Hey, guys! Did I miss anything?" She twisted her body as she pulled at her arm muscles. The blonde made a satisfied groan. "Whoo! That was a pretty hard workout! Haven't felt that way in a long, long time!"

"... What are you doing, Yang?" the faunus deadpanned. "We know you were behind the doorframe, listening in. Don't even try that on us."

"What are you talking about, Blake? I just got here!" A corner of her eye twitched as she said that. Yang started scooting towards the bathroom door. "Anyways, if it isn't too much, I'm going to need to get myself cleaned up. Yeah!" One of her hands wrapped around the brass doorknob leading to our shower room. She slipped into the restroom, hiding everything except for her eyes. "Just pretend I wasn't here."

Everybody stood silent as Yang closed the door on us. An audible click sounded through the room. "... What just happened?" We looked at the heiress, who had her hands on her hips.

"I don't really know, to be honest." I lifted my shoulders in confusion.

Blake's bow twitched. "Guys, … I think I can hear something inside the restroom. It's like—" Her eyes widened for a moment, before returning to normal. Amber eyes caught against mine before darting away. The girl pulled her arms a bit closer to her chest. "... Nevermind. I— I guess it's nothing." Her face said otherwise. She looked… sorry, almost guilty in a way. Whatever Blake can hear, she's not telling us.

"Are you sure it's nothing?" I forced her to lock eyes with me again. The cat faunus swallowed before turning away again. A blush appeared on her face.

"... Yeah. I'm sure. Yang would be embarrassed and angry if she knew I was listening in."

"You don't mean—" Weiss recoiled, nearly tipping herself backward into her desk. "Blake!" She screamed, her face becoming red. "That's disgusting! Did you let your romance novel rot your brain that much?"

"No, you're misinterpreting—"

A panicking feeling ran through me as I watched Weiss toss a pillow at the faunus' face. Blake's hiding something. Something that we as a team can't learn, but is important enough to Yang that it remains secret. What could that be? I sighed as I looked at the closed door, where my sister is right now.

I really hope that Yang's going to be okay.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 3/31/17**


	7. Oh, Sister

Ah, From Dust till Dawn. There's never been a more reliable weapons store. Every month or so, team JNPR and I come in and orders some more ammunition there. It's a reliable place, the store selling good quality stuff at low prices. Considering the company's partnership with the Schnee Dust Company and the support of the Huntsmen, it's no wonder that everybody likes to buy from this particular vendor. Even though several Dust heists have been putting a lot of pressure on the store, there's little surprise that a store like this can still stand proud. The owner was resilient. That's for sure.

It's a good thing we dropped by today out of all days. After the mission, everybody's in need of more ammunition. It's not really useful for me, considering all I use is Crocea Mors and the shield, but everybody else was starting to feel their ammunition running low. From the debriefing, Ren burned through a lot of his ammo fighting the King Taijitu. Pyrrha fared better, but she had to use several magazines to fight off a sudden Ursa horde. Nora is not surprisingly the worst out of all of us. She ran out of shells close to the end and had to fight using Magnhild's hammer form. Maybe I shouldn't have let her run off free to do whatever she wants next time.

I sighed as I glanced through the rows of Dust crystals. A spectrum of colors gleamed under the light, creating a beautiful display. Miniature rainbows formed from the clearer prisms. The colored ones released solid color beams that dazzled on the snow white fabric underneath them. Despite the fact that each crystal was cut into the same generic shape, they had a nice allure to them, similar to gems. If it wasn't for the fact that these crystals can cause a ton of destruction and their importance in sustaining Remnant society as we know it, I'm sure Dust would've been just another shiny rock to be placed on a finger.

My eyes flickered up from the display as I glanced around the store. Nora and Ren crowded around the old Shopkeep in the center of the shop. The redhead hopped and skipped around the counter, babbling something to the merchant so quickly that I couldn't tell what she wanted. From the looks of his face, the Shopkeeper was also having a hard time keeping up with the hyperactive girl. His face turned towards Ren every couple of seconds, relying on the West Mistralian as a translator.

My hands wrapped around the glass display, my thumb bouncing against the clear surface. I thought back to the situation. What do we do now? Whatever the creature is, it's still out there with that Arrow. Who knows what will happen next? What is it going to do? How many users like us is that creature making right now?

The whole point of yesterday was to try and figure out all of this. Yet we don't have anything by the time we went back! Aside from the spar, yesterday was a complete bust. Not a single useful piece of knowledge to help us start our search. But maybe this is more of a recent development… Maybe if we look through the CCT and search up recent news, that might get us somewhere… I think tomorrow afternoon might be a good time to visit the CCT tower. I should call up Ruby and get her input on that.

But still, there are so many unanswered questions! Why is this happening to us right now? To Ruby? We're just students! To think that just a month ago, we didn't have to worry about Stands or ghosts or mysterious Stand forming arrows. And now, we're sucked into… whatever this is. To be part of this mystery… I raked my messy hair back. Are we in over our heads? This is way outside the scope of anything we've ever done. Even the incident at the highway with the Paladin wasn't nearly as messed up as this! Is what we're doing impossible? Are we even going to make it out of this alive?

I felt a chill run down my spine as somebody grabbed my shoulders from behind. The person gave me a firm squeeze. My heart leaped in fear as I felt their gaze burn through the back of my head. Sweat started to form on the base of my head as my mind jumped to several places. Who was that? Am I going to get ambushed? Why is somebody behind me?

My eyes flickered behind me, revealing the mystery person to be my partner. She gave me another squeeze, more comforting now that I know that Pyrrha's doing it to me. Her emerald eyes stared into mine with that sharp, calculating look, constricted pupils searching through me. The look's similar to the one she uses every time we spar on the rooftops. There's something tense about her body language. She's analyzing me, looking for… something.

"Pyrrha?" Her eyes dilated at the sound of her name. The champion girl blinked before looking at me again. At that moment, I felt her grip on me relax. My eyebrows flew upwards with curiosity. "What are you doing?"

"Oh! Sorry Jaune, I didn't mean to startle you." My partner pulled her hand away, bringing it to her hips. "I finished ordering more rounds for Milo, so I guess I wanted to go talk to you. I mean, you don't have anything to do right now, so I don't see why we can't have a chat." Her face softened for a moment. "Are you… okay? You're quite distracted."

"... I guess you can say that." An awkward silence ensued between us. Pyrrha fiddled with Milo's handle for a moment, looking away from me. My eyes went back to the display in front of us. It felt like the glimmer earlier started to fade away. "There's just a lot of stuff on my mind right now."

The Mistralian tucked a lock of crimson hair back under her copper circlet as she let out a hum of displeasure. "... Do you want to talk about it?"

"I— I don't know," I sighed as my head fell forwards. "It's really hard to say…" My tongue had the words on its tip. Never in my life did I want to tell Pyrrha the truth. All I had to do was mention the Stands. She's probably going to understand, right? Pyrrha's my partner. We should be honest with each other. My lips started to form the words. Just a little bit more. Yet they won't come out. I sighed as I turned my head to look at my partner. "It's about Ruby."

"Oh…" The champion glanced away from me. "I'm sorry for asking about that. I didn't know it was that hard for you. But with happened with Ruby…" Emerald eyes flew down towards the tiled flooring as she thought about her next words. "It must be hard, seeing her going through all of this. It's all so… unusual. Who would've expected that Ruby would have so much bad luck recently?" I stifled a scoff. It's a lot more than just bad luck. She continued: "With the infection a month ago to her resurrection a few days ago… I guess I just wanted to ask about how you're doing. This can't be easy on you."

I let out a sigh. "You're right again, Pyrrha. This isn't easy to take in." For more reasons than she thinks. My top lip squished together between my teeth. "I don't understand anything that's going on with Ruby, and as a friend, it hurts more than you think. I mean, if you were in a situation like that, I would do anything to try and help you get better." She straightened up a little at the comment. "There's no way I'm going to stand to the side if my friends are suffering. But I feel so… helpless when it comes to Ruby!" I threw my arms out in frustration. "I wish I can help her, but I don't know how!"

The champion held her hand up to her chin for a moment. "... Well, you're not alone in all of this." She took my hand and pulled me down to a seated position on the ground. "You know Team RWBY's also scared of what's happening. I had a talk with them after the mission for the longest time. Everybody is devastated with what's happening to Ruby. They feel so vulnerable right now. Their leader, partner, and sister brushed with death twice now. I've never seen their resolve waver ever since the first day of school. I'm sure they want to do something as well, just like you."

Pyrrha gestured towards Ren and Nora. The two had an animated talk with each other while the Shopkeep mixed the Dust powder for their order. "All of us worry about her too. Ruby's like a little sister to me. She's always brightening up my day, whether she realizes it or not. Believe me, I was crushed too when I saw her body." The redhead let out a sigh. "Ren and Nora, they feel the same way. They won't say it out loud, but it's clear in their eyes what they're thinking of. There's plenty of people who want to help, but can't." She ran her thumb down my hand, sending shivers down my arm. "The best we can do, all we can do is be there for her, no matter what."

I hummed as I took in my partner's advice. Considering what she knows about the situation, it's sound advice. What good friend wouldn't stick by their buddy's side, watching over them when they need the help? It's not like I'm the only one who cares about Ruby's wellbeing. Everyone in RWBY and JNPR loves her as much as each other. We wouldn't abandon her no matter what. Them being there for Ruby would be the best thing for the girl.

Except I know better. It wouldn't be better for the rest of our friend group to learn the secrets Ruby and I know. Pyrrha doesn't know about the Arrow, about the ghostly Stands, about the bizarre baby creature that gave Ruby her Stand. My partner doesn't know that Ruby wasn't going bonkers when the girl talked about seeing her mom, or that the miracle that happened on that cliff was due to the supernatural. She doesn't understand the scale of what Ruby and I are facing. I'm having doubts about continuing on with this; how would the rest of them feel?

My body turned towards her. She's looking at me and giving me a small smile. Her actions are making this task of keeping the secret of the Stands harder. I wish I didn't have to lie to my partner. All I want more than anything in the world is to just tell her everything. Wasn't the incident with Cardin due to the fact that I didn't tell anyone about my problem? Because of that, I led my team wade through a lot of misery before I managed to escape from Cardin's grasp. Didn't I learn my lesson? It would be easier on me to just spill the beans, bring in one more person to help with the search. It would make it easier on both Ruby and I if we had our friends as well.

But it would make Pyrrha's life harder. Anybody who learns about the Stands is putting their lives at risk. This isn't a Cardin situation where nobody gets hurt if they learn the truth. The worst thing that could've happened to me was get expelled. Stands are scary stuff in comparison. **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** showed me that firsthand with my ability to manipulate density. I shot a paper clip through a wall! And to go after the one thing that could unleash more powers like that; I couldn't force this onto them. I can't be just there for Ruby; I have to fight alongside her. Nobody else should be dragged into this. Especially not Pyrrha.

I gave her the best smile I could. "Thanks, Pyrrha. You always know what to say to help me. I feel a lot better hearing it from you." She looked into my eyes one more time, her face beaming with delight. With a small grunt, she pushed herself back onto her feet, pulling me up with her. I gave her a soft squeeze before letting go. "Where would I be without you pulling me back up?"

"You're welcome, Jaune." Her cheeks reddened for a moment. "It's not much, but I'm glad that it helped." My partner glanced over to the side. "But now it's time for you to play the fearless leader, don't you think?"

I turned to see what she was looking at to find Nora yanking Ren towards the door. A backpack-sized knapsack rattled against her back as the hyperactive girl jerked her partner around. Ren, on the other hand, refused to budge, doing everything to remain rooted to the ground. It's a strange sight seeing the normally passive boy put so much effort into resisting the force of nature that was Nora. "Come on, Renny!" she whined. "We're done for the day! We have nothing on our schedule after this! Zilch! Nada! Let's go to the arcade and have some fun!"

"Nora, we can't bring live ammunition into an arcade." The boy's feet scraped against the ground, his resistance being futile. I swear I can see shallow gashes where his feet passed through the tiled floor. "If we want to go, we have to drop it back home or something. Remember what happened to that Hunter-in-Training a few years back? He bought explosive Dust that detonated when he left it in the sun for too long." Nora paled up at the memory.

"They say that nobody found his body to this very day." She stopped for a moment, considering Ren's words. "But still! Going back to Beacon is boring! We have to get on an airship, fly to Beacon, walk to our lockers, drop off the ammunition, then go back and wait for another airship—" Nora groaned, sinking to the ground at the thought. "That takes way too long! Couldn't we just leave the ammunition here and come pick it back up?"

Ren let out a sigh as he rubbed the base of his nose. "There's no reservation policy, remember? There's no guarantee that the ammo would be still here by the time we come back. We almost lost our lives because of this. Don't you remember what happened back in that one village back in Mistral?" My jaw dropped as they continued with their squabble. I've never seen the two argue… ever, let alone about something like this! This was a lot more serious than I thought.

Time to step in. My first thought went to trying to break up the fight. I stopped almost immediately. Getting involved is most likely going to end in disaster.

Instead, I sidestepped the arguing partners, heading directly towards the Shopkeeper. Don't want to touch those two with a ten-meter stick. I cleared my throat as I stood in front of him, catching the old merchant's attention. "Hi, umm… do you have any shipping policy, by any chance? My friends over there want to enjoy time in the city, and I was hoping if we can just ship it to Beacon." The Shopkeeper raised his eyebrows at my question. A ball of nervousness swelled up in my throat. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Oh? No, no. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that nobody used that method anymore. It caught me by surprise." He ducked down under the counter, rummaging for something. "Do you need your ammunition right away, by any chance?"

"No, not really," I answered, rubbing the back of my head as I let out a chuckle. "We just came back from a mission, and I don't think we're going to need it for at least another week."

"Well then, I don't think there should be any problem with just sending the ammunition by mail." He slapped a tablet on the table, displaying general mailing stuff. "For a couple of more lien, I can send the Dust rounds directly to your residence. It would take the rest of the day for me to fill out the papers for transferring live rounds through the mail, but I think you could get them by around… tomorrow afternoon?" His head poked back up into view. "Just read and sign the document, and I'll handle the rest."

I picked up the display and skimmed through the terms. "Okay. Just put it on Beacon's tab." I said as I typed up a couple of general details, before ending by signing my name with a flourish. The elder man flashed a grin as I handed the tablet back to him.

He gave me a lengthy bow. "Thank you very much for your patronage."

"No, thank you, sir." I turned back towards Ren and Nora. Their argument died down quite a bit since I last saw, but I could still sense some tension between the two. "Hey, guys!" They looked over at me. "Don't worry about the ammunition, I just made a request to get it shipped to Beacon by mail!" Everyone chirped up at the news. "Besides, it's been awhile since we got to have some fun together. Why not have some fun?" the grin on Nora's face grew to an impossible size.

"Thanks, Jaune! You're the best!" She turned over to her lifelong companion. "You see Ren? Nothing to worry about! Come on, let's have some fun!"

The boy in green stood silent for a moment as he considered his options. Ren glanced at me, then at Nora, then back to me before nodding. "Alright, Nora. We can go to the arcade. But this time you're not playing whack a mole, alright?" His magenta eyes glanced at me, wearing a look of relief. The corner of his mouth curled up as he whispered a silent thank you to me. I nodded back, waving my hand at them to go ahead.

The hyperactive girl grinned. "Don't worry Ren, I got it! I've learned from the last time we got kicked out! No more physical games!" She held her hand up, thumb and index forming a circle while the rest of her fingers stuck out upwards. "It'll be fun!" She yanked the boy out of the store, with Pyrrha and I following close behind them. I let out a laugh as the hyperactive redhead dragged her best friend down the street. Yeah, I'm sure this will be fun.

* * *

 

"I need to get this straight." I felt shivers down my spine as Weiss stared into my back. "We're all here because of a promise you made to the librarian?"

My partner and I stood next to a monster of a bookshelf that towered over us. Resting next to the girl was one of those racks where the librarian carts the returned books to their usual resting place. I found myself perched on one of the mobile staircases, skimming through each of the titles to find where _The Accidental Beginnings of Flight_ originally belonged. I glanced at the spine of the book in my hand. What kind of last name is Saltaformaggio? It's long, it's confusing, and it doesn't help that this is the person's only book. Man, I'm starting to have regrets trying to make it up to the librarian. Then again, if we weren't so occupied, this wouldn't have happened.

Looking out of the window, I saw the sun touching the horizon, which gave the sky a vibrant yellow glow. "I'm sorry, Weiss, but I had to do something to help out the librarian! She probably gets enough trouble from everyone already!" My finger ran alongside the books on the shelf as I spoke. "It's the least I could do to make her life a little easier!"

"So you would pull team RWBY here on a weekend just so we can watch you put books away?"

"In my defense, I told you guys you didn't have to come, but everybody insisted on it anyways." Aha! There it is! Between the authors Salamanda and Samus! I let out a long sigh as I shoved the history book back in its original spot. I really hope I don't have to get another name like that guy's again. With that done, I leaped off of the metal staircase and landed next to Weiss. "Besides, wouldn't you out of all people want us to be studying? The library's a nice place to do that."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "What makes you think that? It's the end of the year. We finished all of our finals a week before the mission. There's no need for you guys to study."

"We did?" I thought about what she said for a moment. When did we do our finals? Was it really that long ago? I don't even remember taking it!

Weiss squinted her eyes through the silence, staring right into my eyes. "… You dolt! Did you forget that we already finished our finals?" I kept my mouth shut, afraid of whatever I'll say next. She shook her head, letting out a long sigh. "I can't even— you know what? Forget it. Just pretend I didn't say anything. The point is that you guys are done with studying."

I let out a sigh of relief. If the final was so bad that I can't remember it, I don't think I want to relive that memory ever again. "Huh. I guess we did— wait." Her head jerked up as I let out a hum. "Wait a minute… You said 'you guys.' Don't you mean us?" I turned over to the petite girl. "You meant that we, team RWBY, the most awesome team in Beacon, don't need to study anymore?"

My partner stood silent for a moment, blue eyes flickering around the room. Her lips curled up, opening in order to respond, but not a sound left her mouth. Weiss sighed. "I know what I said. Team RWBY doesn't have to do any more studying for the year. Me…" She stared at the ground. "... I got a lot of catch-up to do."

"Wait, what?" I grabbed her shoulders. "No! That's not possible! I saw your grades, you were on the top of the class! There's no way that you need to repeat any of your classes! What happened? Did one of your teachers misfile something? Was there a test that you missed or something like that? I'm sure we can fix it by the end of the—"

"That's not what I meant, Ruby." She grabbed my hands and jerked them away from her. "I'm not having problems in school. I have to catch up on more personal stuff. It's… it's about my family."

"... Oh."

The girl walked over to the mobile steps and sat herself down on one of the steps. "You know, after the scare you gave us last month, I had a lot of time to think about my future. About Beacon, about becoming a Huntress, about taking over the Schnee Dust Company. And now that I think about it, if I stop Hunting— no, when I stop Hunting, I need to go back to the company and care for it." Weiss cleared her throat, eyes turning down to look at her hands.

"But now, I've realized that I don't know a single thing about running a company. I'm the heiress apparent, and I don't know anything about maintaining supply lines, or how to lead an expedition. I don't even how to manage my own personal finances because my butler does that!" Weiss gestured at nothing in particular. "My sister… did I ever talk about her?" I shook my head.

"That's a subject for another time. But Winter… she probably has some lessons before she joined the Atlesian military, but I've never had any lessons that taught me anything about what the SDC does! If my father had to step down right now…" She dropped her face into her hands. "... I'm in no position to take over effectively. I can't be the company president that the SDC needs."

I stood there, looking at my partner rub her face in frustration. Small hiccups escaped from her once in awhile. She's never been like this before. Weiss has always been confident in herself, no matter what happened. I've never seen her act so… conflicted before. My body willed itself to step towards the staircase. With one deft pull, I yanked myself through one of the bars serving as a railing. Almost immediately I felt myself slide down the metallic pole before I was stopped by a vertical bar. I looked over to my partner.

"You know," I started. "We've never gotten the chance to talk about you, the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. Ever since we've met up in the Emerald Forest, I've always considered you Weiss, my partner and bestie in the whole world." She didn't react to what I was saying, only responding with hiccups. "I hadn't considered for a moment that at the end of the day, you still have a responsibility to go back to. That the future of a major company is going to be in your hands. I can't imagine how stressful that must be. If you want, you can go ahead and talk about your family."

She pulled away, showing her eyes starting to swell up with tears. "... What about the books? Didn't you make a promise to the—?"

"Forget about them. I know I made a promise to the librarian to take care of them, and I will. But our friendship comes first. I want to be there for you, be the friend that you need now above anything else. I'm sure she can wait." I swung my legs back and forth through the air. "Go ahead, talk about your troubles. I'll be here, listening to every word. Even if I'm a dunce who can't understand a word you're saying, at least I'm a dunce that stuck by a friend when they needed me."

Weiss wiped the corners of her eyes. "Where do I start?" She sat there in silence, stewing a bit while I hung from the metal bar. She stared into the open. "... I remember when I first heard the news that I was to be the next president of the SDC. The entire family was having dinner except for Winter. We were having lobster, I remember that. I didn't think about my sister's absence at the time. She's always been less punctual, especially considering she insisted on staying during a lesson. Winter wouldn't budge from her seat until she's sure that she understands the material being taught to her."

"Then out of the blue, my father announces that Winter was going to be stepping down and that I was to be the next heiress. Back then, I thought that was a dream come true. Before that day, I thought that I would never get to live up to the Schnee name and I would become just some trophy wife to secure family alliances. I'd never thought I would help bring the company back to its glory days. The days when my Grandpa stood at the helm." She fidgeted in place, the movement catching my attention.

"My Grandpa, he showed to me what it means to be an individual, to find purpose within myself, like how he did back in his youth. His stories about exploring the world, fighting Grimm, digging through the deepest depths of the Atlesian tundra, just to save the new-born kingdom of Mantle." Her hands shifted around as she spoke every syllable. "And the day he told those stories to me—" She stopped herself. "But that's another story for another time." Weiss waved the thought away.

"The point is that now I thought I had a chance to change the company from within. That I gained the freedom to control the company as I wish so I can shape it back to how it is before. Before… all of the faunus policies." Her eyes shifted towards Blake, who sat on a table reading while Yang flipped through some books. I swear I could see Yang glance up one in a while in our direction. "My father quickly threw me into studies, teaching me about literature, the arts, mathematics, physics. Academic stuff."

"At first I thought they were necessary to lead the company. I needed to be smart and bright in order to make the decisions. But as time went on, I started to become disillusioned. It felt like my responsibility as an heiress was being wasted. Where was the freedom and individuality that Grandpa used to enjoy? All I'm doing is learning how to sing! I felt trapped, like my dream was being used by others for their own selfish wishes. I started demanding lessons on how to fight, on surveying, on other skills. Skills used by my Grandpa. The ones I thought mattered. I only got one of them. I think you know which one."

She ran her finger along the place where Myrtenaster would be sheathed in combat. Her eyes were downcast. "I thought I would follow in the footsteps of my Grandpa, leading the company from the ground. But my father wanted me to me a pencil pusher, a glorified secretary with a fancy title!" Her right hand balled into a fist. "And so I decided to take fate into my own hands. For the first time in my life, I rose up against my father, fighting to earn my place here." A finger went to the scar across her eye. "I lost my beauty, but gained my freedom and my chance to follow Grandpa in his footsteps. Or so I thought."

Weiss looked up at me. "I'll be frank. I don't know what to do anymore. I thought following my grandfather would help me become a leader fit for the SDC. It was partly why I overreacted when I learned that you were going to be the team leader. But despite what we did this whole entire year, despite all of the things I learned from Beacon, I don't think that I'm any closer to leading the company." She rested her face in one palm of her hand. "I don't know if I'm ready." We stood silent for a moment. What do I say to her? Should I say anything?

She pulled her face into a smile before I could speak. "Thanks, Ruby. For sticking out for this long. This isn't nearly close to everything I wanted to say about all of this, and I felt like I went on a ramble. I don't even know if you understood any part of that." Her chest rose as she took a breath in. "That felt… nice. I've been holding this in for so long, with no one to say it to. It's a relieving feeling." My partner's face went serious. "But don't you have something to do?"

"Wha—? Oh! I forgot!" I snatched a couple more books from the mobile shelf. How long were we talking for? "I got to put all of this stuff away!" Where do these go… Last name starts with R. Maybe top shelf? Before I knew it, I found myself straining against the wheeled staircase, pushing it towards the other end of the giant shelf. The second it went into place, I stomped down on the locking mechanism and started for the bottom step. Only to catch my foot on one of the rungs and tripping, banging my nose on the aluminum bars. I groaned as my Aura flared, before falling to the ground.

In moments, I found my sister next to me. She yanked me up and leaned me on one of the shelves. Lilac eyes flickered over my face as she reached for my nose. "Ruby, are you okay? You got to be more careful next time and not rush everything. Maybe you need a break—"

I brushed her hands away. "Yang, stop it. I'm fine. My Aura took most of the impact." Why is she being a lot more protective today? All we're doing is placing books back where they belonged.

"That's what you said last time to Jaune, and look what happened." She placed her hands on her hips. "Ruby, don't be stubborn with—"

"I'm not being stubborn!" I leaped up to my feet. The blonde reeled back, shocked by the outburst. I'm a little surprised at my snappy attitude, but it's too late to take my words back. "Trust me, I'm okay. I can take care of myself."

Yang recovered within moments, giving me a glare. "Take care of yourself? You're doing the opposite of taking care of yourself!" From the corner of my eye, I saw my partner take a few steps back. "Just a few days ago, you threw yourself at an Ancient Grimm with no weapon whatsoever! With no Aura! And all to protect Jaune, who was able to stand and move away in the first place. From the looks of it, you don't care about taking care of yourself. You just want to become a martyr, mourned by everyone who loved you. Just like Summer."

I took a violent breath in. Oh, that's it! "Yeah, so what if I wanted to follow in my mother's footsteps as a protector of Remnant? Being a Huntress is a dangerous job, Yang! You think that justifies having you following me around, arms out, ready to catch me whenever I mess up? You think that by sticking by my side forever that I would run back into your arms, crying for my big sister to save me?" Her face twisted into disbelief at the statement. Her large hands went up to her mouth, covering them up. Those lilac eyes started welling up.

"I'm growing up, Yang. Maybe I relied on you a lot when we were young, but that was in the past. Now I'm finding my place in life, a purpose to fulfill." I cast my gaze onto the patterned carpet. "One where we might not be together forever. I've come to accept this. You should find yours, one that doesn't rely on me being there." The blonde started trembling. "There's no hope in being stuck in the past. You need to let me go live my own life."

My eyes turned upwards to look at Yang. She took a few steps back, colliding with one of the shelves in the process. The books jostled in their places, threatening to fall off. My sister stood there, eyes staring at me in confusion and sorrow. Before long, they flashed crimson red, and Yang stomped out of the library without another word. The cold fingers of my partner wrapped around my shoulder. Blake appeared moments later, book in hand. Her face looked cold.

"Ruby… was that really necessary?" the faunus asked. I let out a long sigh. What I said was harsh, but they were also true. More than they think it is, considering the issue with the Arrow and Stands. But driving Yang away over what was just sisterly concern…

I turned to look at the girl, tears threatening to come out of my own eyes. My head shook back and forth. "... I don't know, Blake. I don't know."

* * *

 

I groaned as I stumbled on the path next to some public building, maybe a library or something? My hands grasped against my head as I felt my brain pounding against my skull. Oh gods, it feels terrible! Where am I? Where were the rooms for the visiting teams? I glanced up. I don't think I'm anywhere close to the dormitory! Man, Brawnz, May, and Roy's going to kill me if I didn't come back in time!

And why do I feel so… ill? Did I eat something terrible? If so, then Vale has some serious quality control issues. Yeah, that's the last time I'm going to a riverside party in the city of Vale!

In fact, what happened? I tapped the side of my skull only to groan as my headache worsened. Alright, Nolan. Think. One moment it was me hanging out at the shore, chatting up with a couple of the locals, and the next was me making my way back home with my head hurting like hell. I wasn't drinking that much. It was not even a single bottle! Unless… was I roofied? No, that can't be it. I'm still in control of my body. Maybe the flu hit me. Yeah, that must be it! Even more reason to get back home as soon as possible. I'm going to need the rest.

Just as I rounded the corner, I saw a girl with a vibrant blonde mane stomping towards my direction. She wore a leather vest with a yellow undershirt with shorts, giving her a confident and assured look. The girl would've looked a lot hotter if it wasn't for the frown across her face. An orange scarf wrapped around her neck, empathizing her… well endowed gifts. I mentally slapped myself in the face. That's not important right now! But, knowing that she's probably a student at Beacon… My mood brightened at the sight of her. Finally! Maybe I could get some directions from her!

"Hey, excuse me," I stumbled. She stopped for a moment, giving me a weird look. She has dark lilac eyes, almost red. I wouldn't mind enjoying a chat with her with a couple of drinks if I didn't feel like hell right now. I brushed one of my bangs away from my forehead. "Umm, the name's Nolan Porfirio, team BRNZ of Shade Academy. I'm… kinda lost right now, and I'm not doing too hot. Can you tell me where the guest dormitories are?"

"Sorry, don't really know. Go find someone else." She huffed at me as she continued on her way. Wait, that's it? No suggestions, just blow me off like that? This didn't go as planned at all!

"Wait!" I started after the blonde. Maybe she's in a bad mood. But I need help now! "Can you at least point me to where I can find somebody to ask? I need to get to my teammates, right now!" The girl refused to say anything, continuing on her way. Seriously girl, throw me a bone or something! I need help right now! "What about a teacher? Could you at least send me their way?" Still nothing from the blonde.

My frustration and my headache reached a crescendo. "Why won't you answer me?" I grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back. I watched her eyes flare red as she grabbed my hand and shoved me back. A grunt escaped my mouth as I landed on the concrete ground. The pain of falling on my butt really isn't helping the pain in my skull. Before I could recover from that fall, she kneeled on my stomach and grabbed the collar of my shirt, knocking the air out of my body.

The girl glared down at me. Crimson eyes peered into my very soul! Her towering figure struck fear in my heart. Is this how I'm going to die? Murdered by a girl who didn't want to give me directions? Real smooth, Nolan. Real smooth. "Dude, I'm not in the mood! I'm having a real bad day, and I could really use a bit of venting! If you don't want to be a target, go away!" With that, she got up and continued on her way. Ow, what's her problem? I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my head. Seriously, what's wrong with this chick? I just wanted directions! I'm not trying to flirt with her! At least not this time.

Who does she think she is, going around and dismissing visiting students like that? I just want to— I jerked my shades out of my collar and slapped them on my face. With a huff, I turned around and walked away. I don't need to deal with people like her! She can go die! Wait a minute… Why do I feel furious all of a sudden? The rational part of me poked at my fury, questioning it. Maybe I should calm down, think about why she would do— Ah, screw that. I'm just going to leave it at that. What a rude person.

A slithering noise sounded from behind me. One glance from behind revealed a dangerous creature staring at the girl, eyes full of malice. Does it want something to do with her? Maybe if I follow it… no. I shook my head. What am I thinking? Random revenge against a girl who's just in a bad mood… that's just petty. I'll be the better man and just find my way back home. I'm sure the blonde can deal with the lizard thing following her.

It made one flicker of its tongue before crawling up the wall, following the girl with a brisk pace. Why did that animal remind me of something? Another pang in my head caused me to wince. I don't have time to worry about that. I need to find my way back. One foot stepped past the other as I continued my search for my room. **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** made one more hiss before continuing its hunt for its prey.

Huh. Why did that name appear in my mind?

⇐ **TO BE CONTINUED= 4/14/2017**


	8. Littlest Things

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" I asked as I dipped a french fry into some sauce. I'm pretty sure this so called in-house sauce was just tartar sauce or something, but it's really good. "I think we had a great outing."

"That's right!" Nora took a large bite out of a monster of a burger nearly the size of her face. "I love the one where we got to launch plush lobsters into those pots!" Pyrrha next to me covered her face from the flying lettuce that came out of Nora's mouth as she attacked the poor burger with extreme prejudice. "Although I wished that I could play it. You guys kinda suck at it."

Ren sighed as he shook his head. A small smile appeared on his face. "You know what the rules are, Nora. But you still had fun, right?"

The bubbly redhead placed her chin into her hand. "That's true. Who knew I could easily beat the record for that motorcycle racing game? I mean, seriously. Completing the Green Zone 20K race with seven minutes and seventeen seconds? What was that person, a chump?" She puffed her chest with pride. "I managed to slice seven whole seconds off of that time."

"You rode that track like an absolute maniac."

"It's a video game! I can afford to be a little more risky! It's not like I would die if I get into a crash! But seven whole seconds!" Nora pumped her fist with pride. "Hah! Take that, Y.X.L.! Eat your heart out! I'm the queen of motorcycles now!"

The rest of the team shook our heads, chuckling to Nora's usual antics before turning back to our food. I played around with the chicken strips that lay in front of me, occasionally taking a bite out of them. They're okay. But not nearly as good as the chicken nuggets at Beacon. Man, what did they make those ones out of?

"So, exams are done," Ren stated casually. Pyrrha and I looked at the stoic boy. "Our mission's done. I think we finished all of the things we need to move on to next year. Now it's just the Vytal Festival."

"Yeah." I dipped a chicken strip into the sauce. "Don't you find it a little weird that we still have classes even after the final exam?"

Pyrrha hummed, chewing on a cherry tomato as she thought about my question. "Well, yes. Normally there isn't a point in teaching after the material is covered. But I think our classes are more for preparing for the Festival."

"I think we would be training if that's the case." A thought hit me. Is it possible to use my ability to get more chicken out of this strip? My eye twitched in response to that question. Really, me? We're talking about the Festival, and I'm thinking about how to get more chicken per bite?

"Plus, isn't the Vytal Festival biannual?" Ren continued. "We can't be switching schedules like that every year." He let out a hum. "... Remember Velvet?"

I glanced up at my fellow teammate. That name sounds familiar… Oh! "You mean the faunus girl in our history class earlier this year?"

He nodded. "I occasionally have a talk with one of her teammates, Yatsuhashi. He said last year had early finals, then the rest of the time was dedicated to preparing for a series of Grimm hunts. He called them 'extermination missions.' From the sounds of it, I think all of the teams that qualified for the Vytal Tournament only do one instead of three missions."

"Oh really?" Nora let out a pout. "So it's just the one we had last Thursday? We don't have any more? Aw, man! I want to keep hunting Grimm."

"Sorry, Nora." I shrugged my shoulders as we went back to eating. "At least we can focus on fighting actual opponents."

I haven't even put another strip in my mouth when the bubbly redhead let out a long gasp.

"Ren! Ren! Look at that sloth plushie!" All of team JNPR glanced up from our food to see Nora hopping up to her feet and jabbing a finger at one of the stalls. The quiet boy brushed a lock of hair back as he looked in the direction his partner pointed. I followed her gaze and noticed the gigantic plushie that hung from a prize stand.

A whistle escaped my mouth. Wow, that stuffed animal must've been the size of me! How do people make stuffed toys that big? Are we allowed to even bring that on an airship if we win it? I saw Nora rub her hands in glee. No, when we win it? From the corner of my eye, I saw my partner's jaw drop just a little. I don't blame her; I'm just as surprised as she was.

"Wow," I gasped. "That's… a pretty big sloth."

"I know, right Jaune?" Nora squealed in delight. "It's such an adorable little thing, and it's right there for the taking!" She started for the booth, leaving behind a half-eaten burger in her excitement. "I have to have it!"

Ren coughed into his hand as he got out of his seat and followed the hyperactive girl. Pyrrha and I followed close behind him, quickly disposing of the rest of our dinner. The Mistralian boy grabbed his partner by the wrist. "Nora, you know that you could just get that at—"

"—So, ya' have your ey' on something, pretty lady?" The carny strode into his booth, giving the four of us a wide grin. His red and white striped uniform empathized his thin, wiry figure. His clothing did make him stand out over the blast of colors that was the arcade. However, unlike most of the employees who were monotone in their attitudes, this guy kept an energetic smile on his face.

She nodded, pointing towards the stuffed sloth with glee. He looked at her selection before coming up to it and stroking one of its arms. "Ah, yes, this one. Ya' have a good eye, my dear. Who ya' looking at is our dear ol' Rossie. This babby's been missin' a home for so, so long." His face turned forlorn as he wiped a corner of his eye. My eyebrows wrinkled as he continued stroking the toy. Why is he talking about the sloth as if it's a real thing? It's a stuffed animal.

"Ya' know, I 'member when we first got Rossie a coupl' years back." He turned to look at us. "T'was one of the few giant stuffed sloths we got, one of a kind, I say!. Put them in various stations, we did, as per usual. Rossie was placed in this booth. Over the years, his kind hath come and gone, won by the masses. All, except for dear Rossie." He threw the side of his arm over his eyes, making loud, mucousy sniffing noises. Yep, he's faking it. And what's with the obviously fake accent? Was he trying to mimic the old Mantlean accent? Because he is way off.

"Nobody cou' win Rossie from this booth, this prison. No one. And poor Rossie—" The man in the striped uniform grabbed a tissue and blew into it. I have to admit, he's doing a great job at making everyone feel sad. "Rossie's been stuck here fer years. You can see it in those beady eyes." He grabbed Nora's cheeks and twisted her head so that she stared into those blank beads that were actually the eyes.

"Ya know, all— all he wants is fer someone to free him and give him a home." He released Nora before looking up at us and his previous captive. There are no signs of tears whatsoever. "Maybe you, my girl, could free him from this prison."

I rubbed my eyes. No. Come on, there's no way he's expecting us to buy it. I looked at the rest of team JNPR. Ren remained stoic, not showing any emotion. Pyrrha gave the carny the stink eye, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. I mean, it's a nice emotional moment. He's a really good actor, and his performance was great, but there's no way anybody—

"My gods, that is so sad," Nora blubbered. A stream of tears fell down her face. "I can't believe that the poor sloth—" She slammed her hands onto the countertop. A fire lit inside her irises as she leaned forwards. She puffed her chest and her cheeks out as she stared down the carny. "I'll save this creature from its prison! What I have to do to save Rossie?" I slapped my forehead. Oh please, not again.

The carny perked up, giving Nora a pearly grin. "Wonderful! It's great t' see tha' kind of energy! But..." He leaned towards the girl's face. "Th' challenge is perilous. No one has ever conquered this game without a doubt."

Nora grinned at the man. "I'll do anything! Anything! Just tell me what I need to do!"

"Alright then. Then let's get th' show on th' road!" The carny pulled the curtains back, revealing a single table behind him. On said table were three milk bottles stacked into a pyramid. Their opaque surface glistened under the orange glow of the lights.

On the bottom of those plastic jugs were two leather softballs, worn out over the years. The stitches barely held the fabric together. In fact, I'm sure the loops are big enough to stick your pinky finger in! Behind the table was another curtain, separating the rest of the arcade from the booth. Nora glanced at the display before looking at the carny in confusion.

"That's it? I just have to knock down three milk jugs? That's the game?"

"My dear, don't underestimate this setup." The carny slithered towards us. "It might not look lik' a hard game, but you'll change your mind once you hear th' rules. Th' goal is t' knock all three bottles off o' th' table. If ya' do so wit' two balls, then ya' win one of the 'eeny little prizes. Easy to do. But you're here to free poor Rossie, which means ya' have t' do it with only one ball." He pointed to the prize list. Just like he said, the big prizes are only given to those who can knock the ball off in one throw.

Team JNPR stood there in place, processing what he said. Only one toss to knock down every single bottle. It sounds like it's possible, especially with Nora being strong even among Huntresses. But something felt off. If it was possible, wouldn't somebody have won the sloth plushie by now? There has to be a catch, something that we're not seeing that the carny's not telling us about.

The hyperactive redhead slapped down her wallet with a bang, causing the rest of us to jump. "I'm game! How much to play?"

"Well, it's a lien to play wit' two balls, but knowing that you're only going for Rossie, I'll give ya' a fighting chance, on th' house." The man gave her a sly grin. "Half a lien fer one ball. More rounds t' free Rossie."

"Nora, this is a bad idea, for several reasons," Ren spoke up. She turned to her lifelong friend, raising an eyebrow. He continued: "One, we've been here all day, and we spent a lot of money. If I remember correctly, you only have two lien left."

"Well, two lien still means that— wait." She brought her hands up to her chin. "Wait a minute. That can't be right." Nora scratched her hair. "I brought fifty lien here. Thirty lien went to buying ammo, bringing me down to twenty. Dinner was five lien, so I have fifteen left. I spent seven lien on arcade tokens for me. So I should have eight left—"

"You also decided to buy that six lien fountain milkshake." I shuttered at the memory. Oh gods, they weren't kidding about the fountain part. I think I can only keep it down because I cheated with my ability.

The hyperactive girl paled. "Oh yeah, that's right."

Ren sighed. "Which means you only have four tries to win this. Second, it's around seven o'clock right now. Airbuses stop taking passengers at eight, which means you're going to need to do this fast, which brings me to my third point. We promised you wouldn't play any physical games, remember? What if your fastball breaks the arcade?"

"Well, don't worry 'bout that, Mr. Boyfriend." The carny rested his head on his hand.

"We're not in a relation—"

"No matter your relationship with th' girl, I promise ya' that no damage will happen." The two blushed as the carny walked towards the back of the booth. "This curtain has been tested t' withstand bullets! Even if you happen to be Huntsmen, any throw ya' happen t' make won't fly through th' crowd! Watch. Missy, here's a ball, free of charge!"

Nora made a weird sound as she fumbled for the leather ball. The carny pointed to a point on the curtain. "Throw the ball as hard as you can, right here!" She looked at the ball, and then back to Ren. "Don't you worry! It's just a demonstration!" She swallowed, nodding at the man before winding back.

Before anyone realized it, I felt a gust of wind smack me in the face, forcing me to cover my eyes. The rest of team JNPR seem to do so as well. The rest of the prizes swung in the wind after such a powerful shot. Everything went silent. Oh gods, did she? I glanced up at the carny, expecting to see splattered remains of the man.

My jaw dropped when one, I saw that the carny was still in one piece. A look of nervousness washed over his face for just a moment before returning back to normal. He was a little spooked, but still fine. But what really amazed me was the softball. I watched it spin on the curtain, twisting the fabric into a spiral in an attempt to punch through. But the cloth didn't give ground, instead swallowing the spinning sphere into its form. Within moments the ball stopped spinning, and with a pop, it let the ball fall to the ground.

"Ya' see what I mean!" The carny combed his hair back, giving everyone another smile. "There's no worries 'ere, laddie!" He gestured to Nora's wallet. "So 'ow about it? Wanna chance at freeing Rossie?" I stole a glance at Ren. He glanced at Nora, then to me before shaking his head and stepping back.

The redhead yanked a card out of her wallet before slamming it down on the table. "I'm in!"

The carny chuckled as he palmed the currency before dropping another softball into Nora's hands. He took a step to the side and gave the girl a bow. "It's all yours."

I crossed my arms and watched as she wound up her shot. From the looks of it, it seems like Nora would easily win this game. She did throw the ball fast enough to create an air current, after all. But I still have a bad feeling about this. There has to be something that's stopping everyone from just winning the game; there's something that I'm missing about this. But what could it be?

A fastball flew past the rest of us, colliding with the stack directly. Instincts took over as I shielded my eyes. That was just as strong as the last throw! There's no way that the pyramid could still be standing. Nora had this one in the bag.

Several gasps came from the rest of the team. Why does everybody sound so shocked? Nora did make it, right? That feeling of doubt from earlier intensified. I looked up from my cover, only for my eyes to widen at the sight. The girl knocked down the pyramid without an effort, yes. The pyramid fell, but they were all still on the table! The opaque bottles laid on their sides, mocking the rest of us as they held on to their platform.

My head whipped over to the rest of the group. Nora's eye started twitching as she made a fist with one of her hands. Pyrrha had her fingers covering her mouth, her emerald eyes wide in surprise and horror. Even Ren, who was normally stoic, had his jaw open just a bit at the sight. Nora looked back up at the carny. "Tha-that was a warm up." She held her hand out as her bottom lip quivered. "Give me another try."

The carny smiled, placing the old ball into her palms. "Well, ya' already paid fer th' next ball. You're entitled t' 'nother ball." He walked over to the toppled bottles, restacking them on two painted circles. "Miss, ya' got pretty close that time. I'm sure your next throw will get the job done."

"Y-yeah, okay." She brought her hand back before taking in a deep breath. "I can do this." With her free hand, she slapped herself on her cheeks before shaking herself out. "This tower's coming down with this throw." She glanced back up at the stack and narrowed her eyes. "Here we go!"

She sent it flying before I could even blink. The ball whizzed through the air, smashing into the pyramid again with a crash. Team JNPR's eyes widened as the bottles toppled onto the table. This has to be it! There's no way that the bottles would remain standing! I held my breath, watching the bottles landing on their sides. Then… nothing. I can't believe it! Nora gasped as she backed away from the counter.

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie! I guess it just didn't work out!" The carny gave us another grin, this time a lot more manic and malicious. I recoiled back, giving the man an ugly stare. This definitely doesn't feel right. I felt my heart start beating faster as the man in red and white stared us down. "But ya' were a bit closer that time." He held his hand up to his face, scraping under his fingernails for dirt. "Maybe if ya' had a' coupl' more tries, ya' might get it." the man held out his hand.

The girl's body shook as she looked at the game in disbelief. "No… there's no way… I should've been able to knock it down without a problem. No, that's not possible!" Her hand gripped the pocket holding her lien, before slipping out another card and slamming it onto the table.

I see his plan now all too clearly. He tricked us! The carny's baited us into this! He wanted us to buy that stupid story, and we took it hook, line, and sinker! Nora's not backing out now, not after she made it her life's mission to get that plushie. There was a grim determination in her eyes. My hand rubbed against my forehead. I can't believe I didn't see that coming!

"Nora, don't give that lien to him!" Ren yelled, grabbing the card in her hand. His outburst caused both me and Pyrrha to jump. "The game's rigged! You have to give it up!" He tried prying her fingers off of the card, only for her to yank the currency away.

"No! Ren, this has become personal!" She shoved the boy aside before pressing the money into the carny's grubby hands. "I have to do this! Remember, Ren? I was the brawn, you were the brains! It's the thing that kept us alive back when we traveled the continent by ourselves! It's the role I play on this team! This is who I am! I'm not as smart as Jaune, or fast as you, or skilled like Pyrrha. If I can't beat this simple game…" She sniffled. "If I can't win using the only thing I'm good at… What use am I to you? To JNPR?"

Ren backed off, shocked. Nora gazed into his eyes, tears threatening to fall. "Ren… I have to do this. For you. For the others. For myself. Do you trust me?"

"I-I…" The magenta-eyed boy looked uncertain, stepping back from his partner. It must be agonizing for him. For him to see Nora like this…

Wait. What did he say earlier about the game? Something about it being rigged? I turned to look at the fallen bottles as I narrowed my eyes. Ren has to be right. There has to be something wrong with the game. Nora threw that ball fast enough to create a current inside a building! Wouldn't somebody have won this game a long time ago? Even Hunters have to be able to win a game like this! These are designed for non-Aura users! The carny did something to the setup, and I need to figure out what!

My eyes fell to the circles on the table. The plastic bottom rested right next to the painted line. That's strange. Something isn't adding up here… Then it hit me. The bottles… their bottoms aren't far from the circles! In fact, they're laying right next to the painted line! Wouldn't they have flown a bit further than that? It doesn't add up! They're milk jugs! There's no milk in them, so they should go flying! It's like they're weighted—

Everything clicked into place. I rubbed the base of my nose, trying my best not to groan. Why didn't I realize this before? Of course, the bottles were weighted! The bottles act just like weighted glassware: tipping over when knocked over, only to stay in one place once down! It wouldn't roll around that way! I glared at the man as he put the bottles back up, straining my ears. The noise was really faint, but I think I could make out a couple of bearings clanging together. That's what the carny's using to cheat at this game!

No… that can't be the only thing. It can't be that easy. Somebody else must've come to that realization, yet nobody has won to this day. My hand rested on my chin. Even if the bottles are weighted, a strong and fast projectile such as a softball should still be able to knock the bottles off through sheer force! But it didn't. I racked my brain for every physics lesson I remember. Come on, how can a fast object fail to knock over something? Think, Jaune, think.

"Nora…" I looked back up to see Ren bow his head in defeat. "I understand. I don't like it at all, but if it means so much to you… I'll stand behind you and support your decision. Two balls, Nora." He gave her an awkward smile. "You can do this." Her eyes watered.

"Thanks, Ren." I watched as she reached for one of the leather balls. Now that I think about it, they look like they were homemade, not bought out of a sports store. My eyes widened when the realization hit me. Before she grasped the softball, my hands snatched both of them off of the counter. Her mouth opened in surprise as I gripped a ball on each hand. It's just what I thought. On the outside, it's impossible to notice. But with **「** _ **EVERYDAY BOY,**_ **」** I can sense the difference.

Most softballs use a synthetic material or rubber in their core. Only took one accidental sword slice to figure that out. Even after years of use, the material should still be heavy enough to have a solid impact. But these balls, these have something porous in them. Most likely cork. It's true that cork could be used in softballs, but they tend to be mixed with some other material! This is just cork!

No wonder the ball didn't hit the stack with so much force! The balls feel just as solid as they usually are, but they're light enough to simply knock down a bottle, not send it careening off of the table! Everything made sense now.

"Jaune!" Nora's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. She had a glare on her face while a small stream of tears dried on her face. "What are you doing?!"

Oh. Whoops. Forgot about that part. I chuckled as I rubbed the softball on the back of my neck. "Sorry, Nora. I kinda wanted to hold them, try to give you a little bit of the Arc family luck." I felt the material inside the balls grow denser with the help of my ability. This should be enough to take care of our little problem.

I held them out to her. "Kind of a superstitious thing to believe in, but at this point, why not?" I tapped my chin, letting out a hum. "You know, why don't you try something different? Like instead of tossing in the middle of the pyramid, toss it at the base? Maybe that will send the bottles flying."

The girl gave me a weird look, before yanking one of them out of my hands. "Yeah that might work," she sighed. "I'll try that." I can feel four sets of eyes glare at me for my stunt. The tip of my mouth pulled up to a grin. I hope they're ready for a surprise. Nora's face twisted in confusion as she gave the ball a couple of squeezes. "Hmm… Something's different…"

My chest stopped moving as I held my breath. Did she suspect something? I stared her down as she gave it a couple more squeezes before shrugging. "Eh." Nora stepped back into position, winding her throwing arm back. Her stance widened as she readied herself for the next toss. Pyrrha opened her mouth, about to say something.

Before any words can come out, Nora let out a powerful bellow, causing everybody to jump in surprise. She flung the ball at the stack, the object flying even faster than before! I watched in satisfaction as the bottom bottles went flying toward the sides of the booth, falling off of the table with minimal effort. The rest of Team JNPR gasped in surprise. Even the carny's looking a bit nervous. I crossed my arms as I felt pride swell up. Now that's more like it.

That feeling dissipated quickly as the top bottle bounced off of the curtain, landing back on the board with a thud. A collective groan came out from our mouths. So close! I can't believe it! Using the curtain to catch the bottle before it falls off… and that's the one that stopped a Nora toss! This guy really doesn't want us to win! I turned to Nora, to see her looking at her hands. I can see them shaking without any restraint. Beads of sweat fell down her face, adding more streaks to her messy skin.

My head turned back to the carny. He's sweating bullets, mouth agape at the single remaining bottle. "No… that can't be…" One of his fingers dug into the collar of his uniform and tugged hard, exposing pale skin. The accent is gone, replaced with the local one here. "There's no way… I've designed this myself… even top of the line Huntsmen couldn't—"

He straightened himself up, slicking his hair back and bringing up a fake smile. "Ma'am, I've never seen that before! That is brilliant, a testament t' your skills! But unfortunately." Every word had spite laced in them. I can tell that there's fury in his eyes as he spat out his rage. "It's. Not. Enough." Every word sank into my teammate's skin as she flinched with every word.

"Ya' haven't knocked down all three bottles in on' toss, which means ya' still didn't win. If I recall quite well, ya' have one last ball to redeem everything." Nora stood in place, unsure of what to do. "Well?" the carny hissed. "What are you waiting for?" He gestured to the last ball in my hand. "Throw your last ball. Your last chance. End it right now."

One application of my Stand ability upped the density of the ball a bit more. "Nora." The girl turned towards me. She had her arms crossed and gave herself a slight squeeze, trying to calm herself down. Is this how she feels on the inside? Uncertain of her usefulness to others? I felt my throat tighten up, as I thought out my next words carefully. "You can do this. The carny said it himself, you got closer than anyone else to beating him in this game." I glanced at her dark-haired partner, gesturing my head towards her.

Ren seemed to get the message, nodding before going up to Nora and lacing his hand through hers. She gasped as he rubbed the back of her hand. "You know, Jaune's right. I'm impressed with what you've done here." He stroked a hand down her hair. "It's okay. Initially, I thought you would destroy this game like usual. But after watching you throw and talking about your fears… You don't need to fear them. Don't be scared. Nothing's going to change between you and team JNPR. Not between me and you."

As if on cue, my partner stepped in, resting her hand on Nora's shoulder. "We're not going to think any less of you, no matter what happens next. You don't have to prove anything to us. You're always going to be our Nora, the smashing brute of JNPR."

There was a moment of silence. Everybody held their breath. At last Nora pulled away with a familiar smile on her face. "Thanks guys," she whispered. "For the longest time, I was so scared. That you guys would leave me behind if I wasn't strong. But now, I think I can do this. No more doubt."

"While this display is nice," the carny shouted as he set the bottles back up. "You guys still have a ball left to throw." I turned to look at him as the stage was set. At first, it didn't seem like anything was off. Except there was a small change, something I almost looked over. The bottom left bottle was placed a bit off of the painted dot, exposing a bit of paint. I raised one of my eyebrows. This couldn't be lazy placement. The tampered bottles and the cork balls say otherwise. It's another trick. He's scared that she might actually win. But how does misplacing the bottle help him?

Wait, if we throw the ball straight into it, then only the front bottle would be hit. I imagined the scenario in my head. That would cause the ball to slow down as the energy is transferred. Not much, but just enough so that it can't hit the other bottles with enough force! I gritted my teeth. That's a cheap trick; it's a dirty way to steal victory from somebody who's so close to beating him.

Nora pulled away from Ren and started walking towards me. But how do we beat that? This is the most I can buff up the ball without rousing any suspicion. But what else could we do? My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to come up with a solution. Softball… it's a variant of baseball. Baseball is known for having crazy pitches. But which one can get the job done? A memory of a baseball game appeared in my mind. The pitcher wounded one of the batters throwing a— I got it!

As the girl came over to me, I pulled her into a hug, causing her to yelp. I leaned next to her ear and whispered, "Curve the ball, Nora. Get the ball to spin forwards."

"What? Where did this come from?"

"Trust me on this, okay? Just like I'm trusting you to do this." She nodded. I pressed the ball into her hands before releasing her. She gave me a curious look, trying to read my eyes before stepping back into position. Those sky blue eyes narrowed as she focused on the target. Her feet widened in distance as she readied her shot. I swallowed. I hope she can pull it off. Curveballs are notoriously hard to throw. But it might just earn her the victory. All was silent in our part of the arcade.

With a roar rivaling the fiercest Ursai, she fired the ball at the stack a final time. We gasped as the ball started flying higher and higher, spinning in the air. It's going to miss the stack! The carny made a giant grin. "Oh, sorry sweetie, but it's just not—"

His words were interrupted when the ball suddenly dived down, smashing into the bottom of the pyramid. The carny's jaw fell open as the ball drilled through the front bottle like it's nothing, sending it off the table before striking the next one of to the same fate. The leather-wrapped ball bounced off of the table and the curtain as the last bottle started to fall. A clink resounded as the ball hit the neck of the bottle. The milk jug tipped over in the air, clanging on the table before flipping off.

It was so silent, we could hear a needle drop. "Oh. My. Gods." Nora lifted her hands up to her face, eyes shining with joy. "... I did it! Look, Ren, did you see?" She yanked her partner's body towards the booth. "Did you see that shot? That was so awesome!"

Ren stared at the spectacle. "I can't believe it," he muttered. "You managed to bounce the ball to get the last bottle."

"That was so awesome! We should've recorded that!" She turned over to the carny and lifted her hand up. "You know what that means, mister!"

The man sighed. "... Yeah, I do." He unhooked the monster of a sloth from the prize rack and handed it over to the girl. "You know what? I'm not even mad. I've never expected anyone to win this game. After all, I designed it so that two balls are needed to win." He looked at the rest of us, sorrow in his eyes. I guess he finally decided to drop the accent. "I thought it was impossible to win with only one ball. But that shot, that was beautiful. Ma'am, you deserve to win Rossie. And thank you."

"Thank you?" she asked, hooking the sloth around her neck. "For what?"

"For figuring out a way to beat the game with only one ball." His eyes flashed. "It'll be something I will… take into consideration for the next version. Don't expect that trick to work again."

I crossed my arms, smiling at the cheering girl waving her prize to the others. No, I don't think that it would work again. Not without me to help them out.

* * *

"Nora, that's a one in a million shot." Pyrrha smiled at her teammate as we walked out of the arcade. As soon as we stepped outside, we were hit with the chill of the twilight. The street lights flickered on as the orange sky faded to dark blue. "Congratulations."

"Thanks, Pyrrha!" She adjusted the human-sized plushie on her shoulders. "It was great!" She blinked several times as she walked out of the building. "Wow, it's dark outside! How long were we inside?"

Ren gave a glance at his scroll. "It's seven thirty. We spent a good eight hours in there. It looks like we have enough time to catch the seven forty-five airbus back home, so no need to check into a motel or anything."

I said nothing, yawning as I stretched my arms out. Wow, that was a really great day. Team JNPR had some quality bonding time. Wouldn't mind going straight to bed tonight.

We continued on in silence as we traversed the familiar streets. From the corner of my eye, I saw a giant sloth head approach my side. "Hey Jaune, thanks for the advice." Nora let out a yawn. "They really helped me win."

"No problem, Nora. Honestly, I didn't know if they were going to work." My shoulders moved up to shrug. "A lot of it was stuff I saw on the CCT plus a bit of physics. Movie stuff that I didn't know worked. But hey, it looks like movie-watching as a kid helped you this time, huh?"

We both let out a chuckle. "That's true. But Jaune." She looked at me in the eyes. "Did you do something to the ball?" My laughed stopped. Did she figure it out? "When you gave me the first ball, it was a bit heavier than last time. Not by much, but by a noticeable amount. Did you… did you do something to them?" Oh gods no, that's not good. If she caught on that I have **「** _ **EVERYDAY BOY...**_ **」**

"No, I think you're imagining it." I laughed away her concern. "All I did was look at the softballs."

"But you decided to take them quickly, snatching them out of my grasp. Like you realized how to manipulate the ball." Well, this isn't going too well. This girl's like a submarine, 'cause she's sinking down my arguments!

I let out a sigh. "Okay, so I guess I thought that there was something wrong with the ball. So I snatched them and checked them out for any tampering. I didn't notice anything different about them." I wasn't lying about that, technically. I hoped that was enough.

"I guess you're right about that…" Her eyebrows furrowed, before readjusting her plushie. "I guess that might be nothing. Just my fear acting up again."

"Nora, like we said, you don't have anything to be scared of. No matter what happens to us, we won't stop being teammates or friends. Remember how I used to be terrible at everything?" She nodded. "Even though I'm the worst fighter on team JNPR, none of you guys thought I was bad because of that. Or look at Pyrrha!"

I nodded towards the champion redhead. "A four-time Mistralian champion, and we don't even blink about that. It's the same thing. JNPR isn't going to break apart because we're human. We're a tight team because we are flawed. That's what makes us great."

"Yeah… thanks, Jaune!" She waved as she hopped back towards Ren. I let out a sigh. Again with the lies. Is this how I'm going to live the rest of my life? Lying for the happiness of others? To make my team happy? I glanced up as we reached the airbus terminal. Nora and Ren ran up the steps, Pyrrha following close behind. I watched as they laughed and smiled the whole entire time. A grin of my own ran up my face. Maybe. Just maybe.

"What are you doing, Jaune?" my partner asked, reaching her hand towards me. "Come on! We got an airbus to catch!" If it's to keep them happy… maybe I can live this kind of lie.

* * *

"Ugh, finally!" I let out a long yawn as I stretched my arms out, earning a look from Weiss as she swatted my arms away. I peered at my scroll. "Seven o' three and finally finished with all of that sorting! Wow, I didn't expect it to take so long."

"What did you expect?" My partner let out a hiss. "After being forced to put that many books back every day for what might be years… Is it no wonder the librarian's bitter at everyone? At least you appreciate what she does now."

"Yeah, I guess." My fingers tapped against the side of my skirt. "Well, we have a couple of hours before curfew." I turned to the rest of my teammates. "You guys want to do anything before we go to bed?"

The faunus girl hummed, her bow twitching. Her eyes glanced at the window before returning to me. "You know, now that I think of it, I think there's a movie coming out today based on an old book series I liked to read. I heard that they were going to stream it in the rec center. Maybe we can do that."

Weiss huffed as she rolled her eyes. "Oh really? Is it based off of one of your terrible smut novels?"

"No! I'm sure Beacon wouldn't let us show that!" Blake waved away the heiress' words. "The premise of the books is that there's this detective who can use magic. He then goes around this fictional city called Chicago and explores the supernatural occurrences that happen there. It's a really long series, roughly fifteen books long or so. But it's really good." Her amber eyes stayed neutral despite her apparent enthusiasm. "I heard that they were making a film for the first book, SemiAutoMagic."

"Huh, really? SemiAutoMagic? What kind of name is that?" the heiress asked, crossing her arms.

"The name might be a little cheesy, but trust me, it's really good. It has this grounded feel to it, and the characters are wonderfully written. In fact, the magic tends to compliment the detective work, and doesn't overtake the mystery aspect of the story, unlike most other works." She gave me a glare. "Please Ruby, let's go to the rec center and watch it."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, I guess the premise is interesting. But I don't know, I like fantasy than gritty realism. Maybe I'll pass this one." Her eyes widened as I started turning around.

"There's free food!" I stopped in my tracks. Did she just say free food? The girl started walking towards me as she nodded her head. "The movie's two hours long, so they're going to have free pizza and all that. Besides, what's the last thing you've eaten today?"

My stomach groaned in agreement. Oh yeah, I didn't have lunch. Maybe a chocolate bar at most? I could really use some food. Drool started coming down my mouth as I thought about the taste of pepperoni. Blake leaned towards me. "Please, Ruby. Even if you don't want to watch it, could you do it for Weiss and me? We really want to see it." The whited haired girl squawked.

"Wha—? Who said I wanted to—"

"Okay."

Blake's bow twitched again at my answer. "Wait, really?"

My mouth formed a grin as I wiped my face. "Yeah, why not? If you want to watch the movie, then why not? Plus, pizza." I started drooling again while I rubbed my hands together. "Just… pizza." I took a stance and jammed my finger towards the hallway. "Onwards, team RWBY! To the rec room!"

The cat faunus nodded, taking the lead. Her stride was more rigid, every step being purposeful. Weiss shook her head as she passed me, snagging my outstretched hand. A yelp escaped my mouth as I lost my balance. "Weiss!" I whined. "Stop it! Come on, I can walk just fine, it's not funny!" Short nails tried to claw against Weiss' pale skin, to no effect. The heiress ignored me as she dragged me across the ground. I swore my cries echoed through the whole entire school throughout our journey for the cheesy dish.

Before I knew it, my partner released her grasp on me, allowing me to fall to the ground. I coughed as I jumped back up to my feet, brushing off the dust off of my dress. My skirt twirled in the air as I turned to face Weiss, who had a slightly amused look on her face. "What was that for?" The girl crossed her arms.

"I don't really know, but seeing you messing around… I couldn't pass up the opportunity." She started giggling as my cheeks blew out. I let out a huff, causing her to burst into laughter. "And you did that to me when I was talking to Neptune! I mean, flipping the tables for once feels great! Now you know how I feel every time I deal with your shenanigans!"

"Couldn't you—" I flared my nostrils before relaxing. "You know, I think I did a better job annoying you then you annoying me."

Weiss dropped her jaw. "What. How did you recover from that so fast? I dragged you across the school! You should be mortified!"

"True, that was embarrassing. But, you forgot that I'm the little sister of Yang. She's the dictionary example of 'cringe.'" The heiress winced at the mention of the girl.

"Yeah, you're right, unfortunately."

"If you two are done with your chat," Blake interrupted. She gave us a listless look as she held the glass door open. Her free hand waved towards the open entrance. "Get inside. I'm getting sick of holding this open."

"Oh! Sorry Blake." I rubbed the back of my neck as I walked through the doorway; Weiss and Blake following close behind me. We were greeted with a sizeable group of students, roughly twenty or so gathering around. Most of them shared conversations with each other. A bunch of beanbag chairs sat scattered around the majority of the room, all surrounding a projector that hung from the ceiling.

The sides of the room had various game tables pushed up to the side. The pool tables had their pool sticks and pool balls resting on top, while the ping pong tables had the paddles thrown about in a sloppy position. My eyes turned to the stuff in front of us. Closer to the perimeter were a series of tables with an assortment of snacks and food. Glass bottles of People like Grapes sat below the table alongside a case of water bottles. Plates rested on the table, each with a slice of pepperoni pizza and a bag of potato chips.

I cooed as I rushed to the table, snatching one of the plates up. "Yes! Come to me and get in my belly!"

Somebody coughed beside me. I tilted my head up to see a boy with dark red hair running down his right eye. A similarly colored military jacket hung over his pale clothing. I noticed some kind of wrapping around his right bicep and hand. He crossed his arms as one of his eyebrows raised up. "And who are you guys? Not trying to be rude, but I wouldn't take some crisps, or in your case, a pie without introducing yourself."

My left eye scrunched up. "Uhh… Sorry, I didn't get any of that. What did you say?" I glared back at Blake, who's on her scroll, glancing at something.

"Don't worry about them Scarlet," a green-haired giant called from across the room. "Neptune and Sun talked about them. Team RWBY, I believe. The girl Sun talks to, she's interested in watching the movie. Got the message from her half an hour ago."

Scarlet softened at that, uncrossing his arms. "Oh! A fellow fan? Well then go right on ahead! Sorry about the introduction, by the way. Don't want anybody nicking food we paid for if they're not going to watch the movie, right?"

"Oh yeah!" I gave him a thumbs up, hoping he wouldn't notice the sweatdrop moving down my forehead. "We're totally here for that! Yeah, so… I'm going to grab a seat and all that."

Scarlet gave me a weird stare, before looking at the rest of my teammates and jabbing a thumb my way. Weiss flicked her wrist at him in return. "Don't mind her, Ruby has her awkward moments."

"Well, okay." He shrugged his shoulders. "Anyways, go ahead and enjoy the food! Movie's at around eight, so just chill out for a moment." The other two girls nodded as they grabbed their food.

Blake, Weiss, and I sat down after scooting a couple of beanbag chairs close to each other, dropping our plates on our laps. I grabbed my slice and started ripping chunks of it off. I let out a satisfied groan as I chewed it. That's good pizza. I love how the flavors mix together in my mouth, creating a wonderful feeling in my mouth.

"Ruby, really, stop eating so fast!" Weiss ribbed me as she made a tsking sound. "I swear, one of these days, you're going to choke on your food, and it won't be pretty for whoever happens to be next to you." I opened my mouth to talk back, only for her to raise her finger. "Don't. Speak. While. Eating."

"Hmm…" I tapped the tip of my chin, glancing at the ceiling while nodding. "Nah. Too much work." The heiress groaned as she threw herself deeper into her chair.

"Why do I bother putting up with you?" she moaned as she rubbed the base of her nose.

I swallowed my food. "Come on, Weiss. We're besties! Friends like to rib each other sometimes. What do you think, Blake?" I turned over to the faunus girl, who's currently tapping something on her scroll.

"Huh?" She closed the device. "Think about… oh! Yeah, I guess so."

"You see, Weiss?" She scowled as I made a smug grin. "Blake agrees with me." After that outburst, the three of us sat there in silence, continuing to eat our slices. The girl in black pulled out her device again, scrolling through some sort of chat. "Blake? When does the movie start?"

Her body jerked in surprise, flicking to another screen the moment she heard my voice. What is she doing? "... They'll start streaming… ten more minutes or so?"

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow as I glanced at a nearby wall clock. "Are you sure you have the right time? It's only seven forty." The girl froze in place as she heard that. "Didn't that Scarlet guy say the movie's at eight?" I can see some sweat drops start to form on the sides of her head.

"You know, now that I think about it, you've never talked about SemiAutoMagic at all," Weiss commented, leaning towards us. "We talked about books all the time, even if my tastes are a bit more refined. Wouldn't you at least mention SemiAutoMagic if you truly liked the series?" Blake pushed herself as far as possible into the beanbag seat, looking really uncomfortable.

"I—"

"Ugh, why did Blake ask me to come here? Everybody's just waiting to watch a movie." My head flew back to the door to see a familiar blonde pocketing her scroll, shaking her head. Before I realized what I was doing, I found myself up on my feet, catching her attention. Our eyes met, and hers flared red in anger. I gulped.

"Yang—"

"Ruby!" she howled as she stomped towards me. Everybody turned their heads in surprise at the newcomer. "We have to TALK."

"Whoa! Whoa!" Scarlet got up and tried to stand in front of Yang. "What's going on? Look, we're just here to—"

She pushed the boy aside. "If you value your life, you'll stay out of sister business." He nodded, backing off immediately.

I turned back towards the rest of team RWBY. Blake had her face in her hands, with a guilty look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ruby," she muffled. "It was going to happen sooner or later. You have to make this up with your sister."

Weiss gave the faunus a glare. "That's pretty hypocritical of you, considering what happened last semester."

"I know." Blake buried herself deeper into her palms. "I know."

"Blake you traitor—" Firm hands slammed down on my shoulders, bringing my attention back to the danger at hand. My eyes clamped shut as I held my hands in front of me. "Oh gods Yang don't hurt me!" Then… nothing. I counted one second, then another. She didn't remove her hands from my shoulders. My sister started sniffling. I cracked one of my eyes open to see what's going on.

The red in her eyes were gone, back to their original shade of lilac. Yang tried to keep tears from running down her face. "... Why, Ruby? What happened to you?" Her voice quivered as she said those words. "What happened to the girl that came to me for help? Who needed her sister on the first day of school?" She glanced down, staring listlessly before returning my gaze. "I'm worried for you, Ruby. Weird things are happening, and don't you deny it. Something's wrong, and you're pushing me away!"

"Yang, I said so many times, you don't have to worry about me." I grabbed her forearms and strained to lift them off me. Her grip remained firm on me. "This isn't your concern."

"Yes it is, Ruby!" I winced as she squeezed my shoulders. "You might think so, but I don't!"

Movement pulled my gaze behind my sister. There was something… climbing the walls. It was huge, roughly two and a half meters long. Forest green scales shined under the yellow glow of the lights. Unusual gray lines overlaid the scales and went up the creature's limbs, connecting on its back. The lines reminded me of an old Remnant formation, one where natives would create giant animal images that could be seen from the sky using just string, stakes, and a hammer.

Its feet stepped on the ceiling, tail bumping against the wall as it stuck itself upside down. Its tongue flickered out, licking through the air as if it's searching for… something. I jumped as mechanical red eyes popped out from under its eyelids, seemingly staring at us. Its head craned towards us, letting out a menacing hiss.

"Ruby!" The calling of my name, as well as the shaking snapped me back to my sister. Sorrowful eyes peered deep into my soul. "Why are you looking at the ceiling?" The creature started towards us.

"... Yang. I need you to listen to me for one moment. Release me, and get to the side, right now."

Her face contorted in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"There's no time to explain, there's something coming towards you!"

"What, from the ceiling?" She looked at the creature, before turning back. "No there's not." Huh? How did she not see the beast? Unless— "Ruby, this is what I mean when I said there's something wrong! You're seeing things that aren't there! You're not well!"

I renewed my struggle from her grasp. "Yang, you don't understand—"

"No, you don't understand!" She leaned her face towards mine. Her eyes gave off a feeling of fear and uncertainty. "Why don't you want my help? Why are you pushing me away? Do you…" The blonde choked on her words. "... Do you hate me?" Those words were almost silent.

"What? No! I'm not pushing you away because I hate you! I'm trying to protect you!" The monster bent its legs like it's going to pounce. Yang sighed and shook her head.

"Ruby, I know how much mom meant to you, but in the real world, you can't always be the hero—" It bounced, jaws wide open and flying towards Yang's neck.

"Look out!" I let my legs collapse as I threw myself at Yang's torso, trying to push her to the side. It wasn't enough. As we flew in the air, I looked up to see a shocked Yang with a lizard-like creature clamping its teeth over her shoulder. Gleeful red eyes stared back at me, making a sadistic grin with its mouth.

An agonizing scream escaped from Yang's mouth as we both fell to the ground.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = April 28, 2017**


	9. Belfry Falls - Part 1

Oh gods, this isn't good. So many things ran through my mind as Yang's screech filled my ears. One thought in particular looped over and over: Yang's been attacked by a komodo dragon. My sister's hurt.

I gritted my teeth as I landed on the floor with my sister in my arms. That… thing released its grasp on Yang the second we landed, backing away as if to admire its handiwork. A creepy smile ran up its face as it stared at us with those creepy glowing eyes. Those words kept repeating in my head, never letting up.

"AAAGGHH!" She twisted and turned on the ground, swinging me around with her. It felt like riding a bull ride if the bull was seeing nothing but red. A sudden cough escaped my mouth as Yang slammed her hand into my stomach, knocking both the wind out of my lungs and sending me rolling off of her body. "OH GODS, IT HURTS!" Another set of tears ran down her face as she clung to the bitten shoulder. My mouth went dry.

No… No! I have to help her! There's gotta be something that I can do! I scrambled to her side and looked over her wound. A gasp escaped my mouth. What— What is this? A finger ran over the yellow glowing bite marks forming over her right shoulder. Over her Aura. It's not protecting her like it should.

This is— What the— How do I—? My hands scrambled to cover the glowing wounds on her Aura. Shining yellow particles flew outwards from the gaps between my fingers, no matter how hard I press against the bite marks. How do I stop Aura from leaking? Can I stop it from fading away? Lilac eyes snapped open, cloudy and unfocused from the pain. In an instant, they contracted and glanced at me. The corner of Yang's lip started quivering. "Ruby… What's going on?"

"I don't know, Yang. I'm not sure. But it's not good." What do I do? Just… huh? We've never been taught about what to do if someone's Aura is under attack. I don't even know if anybody's gone through it! Is it possible to attack somebody through their Aura? It doesn't make sense at all, but whatever attacked Yang managed to do it through her Aura!

"My gods… Ruby? Yang?" Blake's voice registered in my mind. I looked back to see the whole room standing around us in a circle, staring in horror at the downed girl. Blake reached for the other arm and squeezed it. "Where did those bite marks come from?" Wait a minute… My eyes flickered back to the monster, who started taking slow steps to the side. They could see the bite, but not the lizard? Huh? Before I could respond, a torrent of words started filling the room.

"Is that Yang Xiao-Long lying on the ground right now?"

"Holy—! That bite's huge! What could've caused this?"

"This can't be real."

"Are we being attacked by ghosts?"

"We can't defend ourselves from this! We don't have our weapons!"

"What's the point of weapons if we can't even see what's attacking us! We're done! It's game over for us, man! Game over!"

I bit my lip as the mood in the room became saturated with the fears of everyone around us. The monster flickered its tongue, turning its head towards the crowd. Is it going to go for them? I have to calm them down somehow before they catch its attention. I cleared my throat. "Ahem! Everybody—"

"Oh gods, we're going to die!" One of the students screeched. "We got to get out of here!" He ran towards the side door in a panic, hands outstretched to slam it open. The reptile shot off almost immediately afterward, sprinting towards the runner at breakneck speeds. I felt my breath hitch. My gods, that thing was fast!

Before the boy could even reach the door, the invisible monster clamped down on one of his shins, sending him crashing to the ground. He reached out towards the exit. "No! Help me! Somebody get this thing off of me! HELP!" A high pitched squeal came out of his mouth as the monster yanked him back into the room. I swore I saw the lizard roll its eyes before smacking the boy with its tail, knocking him out cold. With that, it spat out the student's leg, leaving an ugly set of bite marks spewing out maroon Aura.

At the sight of the unconscious boy, the rest of the students lost what little composure they had left. The crowd let out horrified screeches, and they all started towards one of the two exits in the hopes of escaping. They wouldn't get too far. The lizard bared its fangs before going on a rampage, eyes glowing red with glee. Its tongue flickered in the air before chasing after a nearby girl.

All I could do was watch the massacre in horror. The monster was efficient like a machine, following a consistent pattern where it clamped on someone's heel, yanked the victim down to the ground, and then spat it out before moving on to the next person. My chest filled with terror as one by one each student fell. The only thing ringing through the room was the chorus of agony this komodo dragon composed.

"Oh gods, this thing isn't slowing down," I muttered, flipping myself off of my sister. "Who knows how long we have until it gets us, too?" A glance forwards revealed the lizard flashing a vicious grin at us, flickering its tongue out before moving towards a nearby runner. I swallowed some saliva down my dry throat before hooking the blonde's left arm around the back of my neck. "Come on, Yang! Get up! We gotta get out of here! The lizard's coming!"

She nodded, planting her right arm onto the ground so she could push herself up. However, the moment she put a little pressure against the carpeted floor, her limb collapsed, sending her tumbling back down to the ground. I grunted as her weight nearly pulled me down with her. "What's wrong Yang?" I can feel a knot forming in my throat. "Why can't you get up?"

"I'm trying. Ruby!" From the corner of my eye, I saw Yang sweating. Her arm muscles were shaking. "I'm pressing against the ground as best as I can, but it won't push me up! I don't think I can control my arm anymore! It won't do what I want!" My eye started twitching as I absorbed the information. The wound… maybe it made it so that her arm can't bear any more weight? I thought that she would be fine, but I guess the bite is worse than I thought. She should move that shoulder as little as possible. That means I'm going to have to push her up.

I scrambled to get behind the girl as I placed my hands against her back. I planted the soles of my feet onto the ground and pushed forwards, bringing Yang's back off of the ground. Her face contorted. The girl let out a tiny whimper as pressure was applied to her shoulder. My tiny legs screamed in pain as I tried to bring her upright. Oh, gods! She's so heavy! Why did my sister have to be so much bigger than me?

"Blake! Grab her good arm and pull her up!" I looked desperately towards my teammate, who was still standing around in shock. "I could use a little help here!" The faunus girl nodded, snapping out of her funk and doing as she was told. With Blake's help, I felt Yang move up to a standing position. Except as Yang was brought upright, she started tipping forwards. Blake yelped, stepping to the side. Before my sister could fall over, however, Weiss leaped in and grabbed her waist, stabilizing the blonde.

"Alright, Yang, you're up now. Now come on, we gotta go!" I started for the front door, Blake and Weiss following closely. Wait, where's Yang? I stopped. Yang didn't move an inch from her original spot. Her teeth were grit, and I could see the veins in her neck flex as she made small jerking motions. Tears flowed out of her eyes. It's obvious that something was wrong with this picture. My mouth dropped. "... Yang?"

"I'm so sorry, Ruby. I'm trying, but I can't move a single muscle. My body's not listening to me." She shook her head. "Something's… paralyzing me. It started with my arm, but now it's affected my legs. I can feel it moving up my neck right now… I feel so stiff."

I watched her grit her teeth as she tried turning her head. She must've been using all of her strength to do just that much. Every muscle below her head trembled. "If we don't make it like last time, I just want to say—" Not another word came out of her mouth as it froze in position. The only thing moving due to her own will is her lilac eyes, who stared into my own eyes with sadness and regret. Moments later, she started tipping forwards. Blake let out another yelp, catching her partner and resting her on the ground. I bit my lip as I saw Yang's muscles spasm occasionally.

"Oh no… Yang…" Weiss covered her mouth at the sight of her teammate. She backed away from the shaking girl. "I-I don't— I can't—" My eyes watered as I clenched my fist. To see Yang like this… so helpless in contrast to her strong, protective self… My partner let out a sigh. "... We're going to need to call for help." The heiress' scroll appeared out from one of their pockets. "We need to call the teachers and get them to help us."

Before she could open the device, however, I smacked it out of her hands. It flew in the air before banging its side on the carpet floor. At least it wasn't the screen. Weiss shot me an evil glare while she seethed in silent fury. "What was that for? If we don't get any support from the adults, we're all going to die!"

"And if none of them can see the lizard?" Weiss stood silent for a moment, taking in my question. "They're going to die as well, and then we're really screwed. But here's the thing: we can avoid the beast. I can see it. I think we can all make it if everybody stayed by me." My eyes followed the monster as it clamped down on yet another student.

There's no doubt about it. We're under attack by a Stand. How else could I explain the fact that no one can see it, or how it's doing this to everybody? There's no way this could be Jaune's Stand. It was clear that he didn't have a Stand form. No, this is somebody else, and they're attacking us!

Scarlet and his partner were backed up against the wall, their mouths opening and closing as the boy in front of them got gnawed on. Besides them and what remains of team RWBY, nobody else is still standing. Maybe I could get them out of here as well… All we need is a good blow to distract it for just a moment. "Scarlet!" I hissed. "The monster's on top of that boy right now! Maybe you could hit it with something and stun it!"

"You can see whatever is on Bolin? If that thing is on him right now… What can I use?" He glanced around for a moment before spotting the abandoned game equipment on top of the tables. "Well then… Sage, you don't mind if you stay in place? I'll creep up towards those tables over there and snatch a cue for you." His giant of a partner nodded.

The boy with red dyed hair slid towards the sides of the room. "I feel silly doing this, but I guess you're the expert… Ruby, is it?" His eyes focused on the downed boy. "I'm trusting you with this." While he made his way to the other side of the room, the lizard started sliding its feet over the wailing boy, using him as a doormat. I pressed my lips together. I don't think anybody else has to know about that. My eyes flickered between the lizard and the pirate-esque boy. Come on, Scarlet. You're so close.

His fingers grasped at a pool stick, pulling it off the table without a sound. "Whew. Didn't think I would make it. Sage, catch," the pirate boy called out, tossing the stick at his partner. The dark-skinned boy caught it with little effort.

"Okay." Sage raised the cue stick up, gripping it with both hands. "Did the monster move anywhere?"

I craned my neck up, trying to spot the lizard. It's still standing on the body for some reason. "It's still there, right on top of that dude. Could you try and not hurt the guy too much? I think he's still alive." Maybe it'll work out. If he can take down… whatever that thing is, then I might not need to bring out Rose. From my spar with Jaune, we know they can be affected by normal items. Now the question is: is Sage strong enough to take it down? I shook my head. The guy wields a greatsword normally! Strength isn't even a question! Of course this is going to end well!

The giant nodded, readying his strike. "This is going to hurt a bit. Sorry, Bolin. No hard feelings." Sage swung down towards the creature's back. My heart skipped a beat as the stick came closer and closer to hitting it. Come on, please work. Just one good hit, and we can evacuate this place. The wooden pole made contact with the monster.

And snapped in two, sending wood splinters flying through the air. The lizard looked confused, shaking its body off. It's like the hit didn't even register. My jaw dropped. No way! There's no way it could split a cue at impact! Especially once a Hunter channels their Aura through it! What changed? The green haired boy's face dropped when he saw my expression. He turned his face away from us.

Scarlet made a gasping noise. "... Please tell me you guys managed to hit the thing. Right?" His voice cracked as I didn't answer. "Right? You hit it? Please Sage, just tell me you managed to stop it. Right?" His partner refused to look at him. The pirate boy fell to his knees. The monster turned its head towards Scarlet. "... I guess you didn't stop it, then. It was a good try, though. I guess that's it. We're done for. I just wished it didn't end like this."

One flicker of its tongue appeared from the lizard's mouth before it charged the boy. He didn't bother fighting back, letting it chomp down on his neck before collapsing. Scarlet's face contorted as the monster dragged him down onto the table. Unlike the others, he didn't scream, keeping his silence and dignity.

"Scarlet!" Sage abandoned his spot next to the wall, rushing towards his partner. I wanted to scream at him. What's he doing? He's going to get bit as well! The monster must've realized this as well, letting go of the red haired boy and clamping down on the giant's ankle. He gritted his teeth in pain. Instead of collapsing, he threw himself onto the pool tables, pulling the lizard into the air as he rolled on the green felt surface. It's his strength, I realized. That and a combination of momentum. It's like what I normally do with Crescent Rose.

With a yell, he smashed the bitten heel into the wall, ramming the monster's nose and causing it to let go. A terrible hissing noise came from the monster, recoiling to the hit. "That's… my little bit of revenge," the giant muttered as his muscles started spazzing around. He looked over to us. "Go on ahead. Save yourselves." Sage tried to pull himself towards the lizard, only to collapse as his muscles lost control.

The two standing members of RWBY pressed close together to each other. "What do we do?" Weiss whispered, eyes staring at the paralyzed body of the most recent victim. "There's nobody else here besides us. Ruby, you can see the thing. You must have a plan for this!" I nodded. As a matter of fact, I don't. My thumb moved up and down in my clenched fist as I tried pulling up any solution that didn't need me to use Rose to defeat the lizard.

Can we run away? No, all the exits are too far away, and that thing could catch up to us in no time. Besides, what's going to happen to the students here? And what about the teachers who are going to have to come into this room to see what happened? I can't abandon them to this fate. Maybe I can call Jaune? He's not going to make it on time. He said his team's going to be in the city all day. He might be coming back, since the last airbus left at seven. But even then, I don't think we can hold out that long. And if he stays in the city for the night? I can't wait an entire night for Jaune to get back!

There's only one clear option left for me. I just have to take on the Stand by myself. I felt the knot in my stomach grow wider. Every part of me didn't want to use Rose to fight. I wished that my Stand would eventually just became a secret that never had to be mentioned. But in my heart, I knew that somehow, another Stand will come after us and hurt the people we love and care for. In this case, it's hurting everybody here.

I let out a sigh as I glanced at all of the bodies on the floor. Everybody in this room was innocent. They don't deserve to end up like this. Nobody deserved to be attacked by a being that they can't see, let alone understand. Not the moviegoers, not Scarlet and Sage, especially not team RWBY. I have to step in and fight back for the sake of everybody in the room. For the sake of Beacon.

My feet widened as I adjusted my weight. I don't know how ideal Rose was for this fight, but she's the only advantage I have right now. My Stand might be the only thing that could hurt this rampaging monster. The monster finally stopped shaking its head, turning towards the three of us: the last people standing after everything was done. A small pale hand grabbed my shoulder, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Ruby!" my partner hissed. "What's the plan?"

"... Blake, take Yang and back her into a corner." I pointed to one behind us. "Probably that one over there, close to the front door. Stay a couple of meters away from her and grab something. Be ready to fight back when I say so. Weiss, get between Yang and Blake and ready some platform glyphs. Summon them when I say so."

The cat faunus narrowed her eyes in suspicion but nodded anyways, hooking her arms through Yang's armpits as she started dragging the immobile girl back. "And what are you doing to do, Ruby?"

I stepped in front of them, flicking my cape out. It floated into the air, exposing the rest of my body. I took assured strides towards the monster, staring into its crimson eyes. "What I should've done a long time ago."

It seems like it accepted my challenge, widening its stance and lowering its body as I approached. The monster bared its fangs towards me, letting out a soft hiss as its tongue flickered in the air. Rose appeared behind me, arms up in a stance that reminded me of what a martial artist would pose in. I mimicked her, holding my arms up in the same position while widening my own stance. Hopefully, I looked intimidating to the reptile in front of me. It growled as it lunged towards me. I guess not.

" **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " I yelled, and Rose flew past me, ducking under the lizard's mouth and smashing her fist under its jaw. The monster gagged in surprise as it flew straight up into the air, crashing into the projector with force. The machine groaned as it was ripped from the roof before bursting into pieces on the ground. Sparks flew from the now exposed wires, creating a buzzing noise. Its legs flailed in the air as it crashed into the wall. The monster writhed on the ground soon afterward, trying to flip itself back onto its feet.

Everything's starting to come together now. So that was my mistake. I thought it was any normal item that could hurt a Stand, but I was wrong. It had to be something affected by a Stand ability, like Jaune's **「** **EVERYDAY BOY.** **」** No wonder the pool stick broke; Sage doesn't have a Stand ability that could affect the cue. And it's not like he could use a Stand in the first place! I have to use a Stand to fight a Stand. After all, what was the big thing I learned in my fight with Jaune? Only Stands can hurt other Stands.

But at the same time, I'm putting myself into a risky position. There's no Aura protecting me from the effects of its bite. Rose floated back to my side, ready for my next order. I only have one chance to take it down. If Rose or I get bit, then our fight was pointless.

"Ruby… what did you just do to that projector?" Blake whispered. I looked back through Rose. The faunus had wide eyes filled with disbelief. The bow on the top of her head was twitching wildly, like her ears were demanding to be released from the wrapping. Right behind her is Weiss with her arm outstretched, spinning a mini-glyph on her index finger. Her face remained stoic, but there was still a hint of surprise hidden in those light-blue pupils.

"I'll tell you later once I deal with this lizard." I tensed as the monster shook itself off. "Right now, I need to focus on taking this guy down." I sent Rose after it as it turned to face all of us. The beast, glancing at the approaching Stand, hopped to the side just as Rose slammed her hand into the carpet, sending abandoned food flying into the air. My breath hitched. Oh gods no! Rose floated back to my side right after the strike as I expected a counter. But the lizard didn't snap back at me Instead, it leaped onto the walls and started traversing them.

"Weiss! Place your glyphs on the walls!" I yelled, running after the monster. A glyph path formed right as I threw myself into the air and onto the walls. With practiced ease, I reoriented myself to land feet first and chased after the being. Every step I made on the markings increased my speed, cutting the distance between me and the Stand. With a yell, I threw myself towards the rest of the girls over the lizard. At the same time, Rose slid her fist under the dashing monster, and with a resounding grunt, jabbed it with all her might. It gasped as its feet lost their grip on the wall, and it soared across the room towards the beanbag chairs.

As for me, my feet landed on a glyph formed roughly a meter away from Yang's head. I shook my head, knees bent as I prepared for my launch. "Oh no you don't! You're not touching my teammates!" With that I sprang forwards, shooting myself towards the recovering beast. My Stand flew in front of me, winding back to get a hit in before it can get back on its feet. Rose might not be that strong, but at this speed, any punch she throws must be hitting hard enough to stop it for good this time!

A gleam escaped the monster's eyes, and it rolled to the side before my Stand could land her hit. A crater formed from the impact of Rose's punch a millisecond later. My eyes widened. How did I miss? I smashed into the ground moments after the attack, groaning as I rolled forwards. Bits of food flew into the air as I rolled over the abandoned meals. As I slowed down, I willed Rose to float in front of me, holding her arms up just in case the reptile decided to counterattack.

Except… it didn't. In fact, it did nothing. Sensing the opportunity, I pulled myself back up to a standing position. The lizard just stood there, glaring at me and flicking its tongue out. What is it doing? Why is it just… standing around? No matter. If it's standing still, that means I can hit it without worrying about it attacking anyone! I let out a yell as I sent Rose towards the monster. Her cape floated up as a fist escaped the fabric covering, flying directly towards my target.

The monster had other plans, turning around before running off. I growled as Rose missed her mark yet again, instead sending a beanbag chair flying. "Where are you going?" I followed its movements before my blood ran cold. It's moving towards the rest of the team! "Weiss! Form a glyph aimed towards the group!" The snow white runes burst into view next to me a split second later, With a grunt, I pushed off of the formation, soaring across the room at breakneck speeds. Again Rose came at the fleeing opponent, landing a successful strike against the monster's side.

A hiss escaped its mouth as it flew towards the corner opposite of us. I felt myself wince as I saw the floor rapidly approaching. Well, this is going to hurt. The second I made contact with the ground, I felt my body spinning as I rolled across the ground. Yells of indignation escaped my partner's mouth as she leaped to avoid me. "Sorry!" I called back out as I passed by. The other standing girl raised her eyebrows in confusion, watching me roll past. A shot of pain ran up my back as it smacked into the side of the room. My vision blurred a bit as the back of my head slammed into the wall. Oh man, a concussion is not pretty.

Blake coughed in her hand, managing to grab my attention. "Are you still okay, Ruby?" I let out a cough of my own as I struggled back up to my feet. My hands flew to the back of my head, checking for any bumps or skull fractures. I don't really know just how much of my Aura keeps me intact, but I'm going to need to be more careful. Can't go this extreme.

I gave her a nod. "Yeah. I'm okay right now. Maybe a couple of scrapes here and there, but nothing I can't handle. I think I'm making progress on the beast."

"I beg to differ!" I turned towards the heiress. She had her mouth covered with one hand, the other pointing towards my body. "Look at yourself, Ruby! You have carpet burns and scraped skin! There's—" She heaved, making a gagging noise. Weiss managed to pull it together, continuing with her statement. "You're bleeding. We didn't see your Aura break, but you're bleeding."

My eyes flew down to look at the condition of my body. Droplets of blood ran down my right arm, appearing from a friction burn on my forearm. Several more burns dotted my other arm, in various degrees of seriousness. It looked like it was ready to bleed at any time. The scratches and wounds on my skin were a lot more apparent now. So is this what happens to people without Aura? I winced as the air caused the burns to sting. Ah! Geez!

"Yeah," I whispered, gritting my teeth. "I guess I am. But that's not important right now."

"Ruby, what do you mean this isn't important? You're hurt." Weiss took a step forwards. "You're our leader, our friend, my partner. We have every right to care about your wellbeing, even if you insist otherwise." As much as I want to argue, she does have a point. Wasn't it obvious from the moment I've been hit by the Arrow? They've been at my side, helping me throughout those days. Even if it's misplaced, their feelings are genuine. Team RWBY would give up everything for me. But that's a two-way street.

"... I care about your wellbeing as well. About everybody's." My gazed latched upon each of the members of team RWBY. "I'm glad to know that you guys are worried, but this is for the best for the team. These wounds are for everyone here." I raised my arms, empathizing the point. "I'm the only one that can protect you guys." My partner's blue eyes moved a bit from side to side, mouth slightly agape as she tried to take in my words. Blake had a hard look on her face, trying to keep it neutral.

But Yang… looking at Yang brings pain into my heart. She's still paralyzed, stuck with an expression of horror. The only thing still moving were her eyes. Lilac met my gaze, and her eyes dilated upon hearing my words. It's so hard to see the sister who protected me my entire life just laying there, unable to move, with eyes that showed nothing but regret and sorrow. I felt my own eyes water as I matched her stare with my own.

Hissing noises brought my attention back to the battle. I can feel sorry for my sister later. First, I have to make sure that she, along with everybody else makes it out alive. The lizard pressed its right side next to the wall, legs bent and ready for another charge. Its tongue wiggled wildly outside of its mouth. It reminded me of those inflatable dancing tube men Dad brought out once in a while to celebrate a festival. I waved the thought away, focusing on the threat in front of me. Although looking mainly intact, I can see bruises forming on top of its skin. At the same time, those red eyes held a murderous look in them. Whatever it's doing, it's going to act, and soon.

The white-cloaked Stand floated between it and my body, arms up for another strike. Okay Ruby, think. What did the lizard monster do so far? Well, it either dodged if I sent Rose after it, or it ran towards us in order to get a bite off if I chose to do nothing. So far I've gotten hits on it if I just let it come towards me, so that's what I'm going to do. I widened my stance, ready to receive any attacks. Stand my ground, and let the creature come towards me.

With a snarl, it pounced, stampeding towards team RWBY. Its path was less direct, curving to my left instead of running straight towards us, but no matter. Rose dived towards the enemy Stand, fist already in motion. She can intercept its charge without too much trouble. However, the lizard had other plans, turning right and leaping onto the wall, causing her attack to miss again. My eyes widened in horror. I'm wide open! My hands snatched an empty soda bottle, smashing it against the wall. The fragile container shattered, sending bits of clear glass everywhere. Gangsters did it in the movies, so it could work. Besides, at least I can hurt the monster now.

I raised the weapon up to my face, pointing it at the approaching monster, causing it to stop. "Don't move any further! I'll hit you if I have to!" The lizard Stand tilted its head, considering my command for one second before continuing onwards. With a yell, I jabbed the sharp object at the monster's back. It snorted, sending the tip of its tail towards the weapon and shattering it in my hands. I gritted in pain as the glass shards cut into my hand. Oh no! Rose, come on, hurry up! My Stand zipped back towards me. Not fast enough. I felt my stomach drop. My legs were twitchy, ready to throw me to the side the moment it lashes out at me.

However, it continued past me without stopping. What? I threw my head back. Is it ignoring me for the other girls?

"Blake! Weiss! Get away from the wall with the front door! It's coming towards you two!" They nodded, stepping towards the center. Not fast enough. The lizard's about to be within jumping distance of Blake. Rose faded away from sight as I called her back. A rush of Aura ran through my body, helping to close up the friction burns and the glass cuts I earned from the fight. But that's not why I brought my Stand back. Energy bounced through my legs as I readied my Semblance. We can touch the reptile without bringing out our Stands, like the cue. If it jumps, I can intercept it! I watched as the lizard flickered its tongue, slowing down. Any time now…

To my surprise, it didn't stop like I thought it would, instead continuing towards the corner. I raised my eyebrow. That doesn't make sense. There are only three people standing: Blake, Weiss, and me. It would make sense to take down anyone of us. Except it ignored Blake and I. And Weiss is already out of its pouncing range. So why is it continuing forwards? Who could it possibly attack?

My eyes went to each of my teammates. Weiss had a worried look on her face, but there was still a sense of determination in her eyes. So that takes her out as a possible target. Same thing with Blake. While her body language is tense, it's still firm. Her amber eyes radiated that look of a survivor, someone who's determined to make it through no matter what might happen. The monster's ignoring her as well? Who is there left to attack?

I scanned the wall again, trying to find any other person it could potentially go for. The only one I can notice is Yang. Unlike the others, her eyes had a sense of despair. Of sadness. She followed my movements, unable to do anything. It's like she gave up. And she's the only one on the— My mouth dropped. She's the only one within a couple of meters of its range.

Roses floated behind me as I used my Semblance, sprinting towards the Stand. Why didn't I think of that? It never attacked anybody that's already been bitten, only going after those still standing. Nobody's seen what will happen if it bites an already paralyzed person. After one bite, Yang's been exposed to enough of some kind of toxin to become completely paralyzed. However, it isn't enough to affect her eyes and her vital functions. If that wasn't the case, everybody bitten would be unconscious or dead by now. But a second bite? If that stops her breathing, or her heart—

A hoarse scream escaped my mouth as I threw myself at the crawling monster. Rose appeared behind me in mid-air. I can't let that thing bite Yang again! No one's going to die! Especially not my big sister! Rose zoomed past me, understanding my wish to protect Yang. However, that large tail whipped out at me, smacking me in the face. Its scaly skin cut into my cheeks as it threw me towards the center of the room. Rose got dragged along with me, her fists barely missing the reptile. I smashed through a table with a resounding crash.

Everything blurred as my head struck the ground. The back of my head started to ache in pain. But there's no time to focus on that. Yang's going to die! I rolled onto my hands and knees. "Everybody, get Yang away from the corner!" I managed to yell out as I pulled my aching body back up. Ugh… I can't see a thing. Several blinks cleared my vision up, revealing my teammates running towards Yang. It's not going to be enough. They're not going to make it. The lizard's already tensing up, ready to land the fatal blow on my sister. My eyes widened in horror as it opened its jaw up wide.

No. I fell to my knees. Please no. I can't lose another family member— I— I already lost Mom. If Yang dies, I don't— I can't— Tears started running down my face. Come on, move! My arms weakly reached for the ground. I have to— Please! No matter how much I silently pleaded, my body won't move fast enough to save my sister.

I let out a sniffle. Why did I act so rude to Yang? All she wanted to do was protect me, yet I kept pushing her away. She's going to die, and for what? To keep my ability a secret? To keep everything about the Stands secret? I felt a bit of me withering away to nothing. No secret should hurt the people I love. They shouldn't be put in the line of fire for my actions. And now, she's going to scatter and disappear from my life. Just like Mom.

The lizard clamped shut, tasting the air with its tongue. It hopped off the wall and started trotting towards me. What… just happened? Did it just let Yang go? Nothing's making sense anymore. I peered into its malicious eyes as it observed my fallen figure. Whatever I did, I managed to get its attention. That's good. It could do whatever it wanted to me. As long as it's not Yang. From the corner of my vision, I watched Rose approach the lizard from behind. Just let the monster come close to me, as far away from the others as possible. Then I'll strike.

It now stood a mere meter away from me. Its lips pulled up to a grisly smile as it opened its mouth wide. Any moment now… The lizard leaned towards my exposed neck, ready to take a bite. Now! I felt my spirits light on fire as I jerked myself back, avoiding the death trap that was its jaws. At the same time, Rose started twirling her body as she dived down, smashing her fist into the creature. I watched in satisfaction of its leathery skin twisting and contorting under the Stand drill that was **「** **RED LIKE ROSES.** **」**

"Whew! That was close!" I pushed myself back to a standing position as fast as I possibly can. My right hand rubbed against the base of my neck. "Good grief. You've caused enough trouble, Mr. Lizard. A lot of people are hurt because of you. My big sister being one of them." Rose stopped spinning and flipped towards the ground, throwing another punch into the monster's stomach. It screeched as the force of the impact sent it flying into the air. "I can't let you do that anymore." My Stand floated back to a standing position, fists up and ready for the beating of a lifetime. I jabbed my finger at the figure as it reached the apex of its flight. "This is for them! **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** "

A white fist flew at the monster's nose. The sickening sound of bones cracking resounded as the strike made impact. Blood splattered on Rose's hand as the lizard opened its jaw in pain. With a deafening roar, Rose threw a flurry of blows at blinding speed. It was impossible to see every single punch she threw at the beast, but the sensation of the beatdown was invigorating! Reptilian skin warped and twisted into craters as every hit landed on the creature.

My heart beat faster as the combo came close to its climax. "You won't hurt anyone anymore!" Rose ended her blows with one last haymaker to the nostrils. The beast moaned as it flew to the wall opposite of my friends, creating cracks in the plaster as it made impact. I heard a sound of pity coming from one of the girls, probably wincing due to the sheer power. To be honest, I felt a little bit of pity for the monster myself as it flopped to the ground. That was a particularly brutal beatdown.

Only to have my eyes widen as it slowly pulled itself back up to a standing position. It looked worse for the wear, but the only source of wounds came from the bleeding nose. Despite how many hits it took, there was no bruising that I could see on its skin. Just how thick is lizard skin? If Rose wasn't enough to take this lizard down… then what can? Red eyes grew darker as it gave me a glare that screamed murder. I flinched back, overwhelmed by its killing intent. How am I going to take down this thing?

To my surprise, it collapsed back down, muscles twitching. Maybe my beating did have an effect. That might buy us some time to breathe. Maybe I could tell Blake and Weiss to get the rest of the students and drag them to a more secure place… no, that's a terrible idea. They will ask me questions about what's going on, and I can't be distracted while the Stand is recovering. Plus, it's just about ready to get up anyways. If I sent them out, they might get close to the lizard and just get bit.

But this Stand is surprising, to say the least. It's not choosing its own victims, but going after people who fulfill a certain requirement. There's got to be a reason why Yang and everyone else became targets, but not Weiss, Blake, and I. What could it be, though? I thought back to everyone who got bit so far. Come on, Ruby. Think! What did everybody share in common that my team didn't? Maybe it has to do with color…!

Wait, every time the Stand moves, it flickers its tongue. I remember from a visit to a zoo that lizards sometimes do that in order to smell or taste something in the air so it could track prey. If this monster follows that same train of thought, then it must be smelling something in the air, something that would make others a target. The question now is what? It can't be food. Blake, Weiss, and I all ate, and we didn't get bitten. It's the reverse for Yang.

The lizard finally managed to prop itself back up into a standing position. The stream of blood flowing out of its nose is finally slowing down. A stupid quote appeared in my mind: "They can smell the fear on you." What if… what if this thing's a spirit form of a Grimm? The monster tracks its prey through smelling the emotions in the air? It goes after people in despair or turmoil. It would make a bit of sense, since everyone was panicking over the idea of something invisible attacking them. Just like Scarlet! The monster went after him when he believed that we were done for.

But one thing still doesn't make sense. Why would it attack Yang again? The first time makes sense now, since she must've been still hurt from my earlier rant. But once a person's down, the monster always moved to another person. So why go after Yang twice? Unless… she's still in turmoil. But for what?

Then it hit me. My Stand. She was watching me the whole entire time. Unlike me, she can't see the Stands fighting. She can only see what I'm doing. And what have I been doing? Running around a room, breaking things without touching them and bleeding without having my Aura breaking. It must be mind-shattering to anybody watching. Especially Yang. Her baby sister's getting hurt chasing after unseeable things, and she can't do a single thing about it. She's stuck paralyzed on the ground. Anybody would feel despair due to that.

A snarl drew my attention back to the approaching lizard monster. It tried to skirt around my left side, heading towards the rest of the group. If my theory of negative emotions is true, then there's a way to bring its attention to me. I have to put myself in a state of despair; enough to bring the Stand towards me, but not so much that I'm crippled by it. It's going to be a fine balance to be sure. I felt a shiver go down my back. This isn't going to be enjoyable. But that's the only way to keep the creature away from Yang!

But what kind of situation would do that to me? What kind of fear would bring me to despair? I watched as the green lizard approached the rest of my team. In the back of my mind, there's one fear sealed away a long time ago. My fist started shaking. I don't want to bring it back up. But if I don't, it'll happen right here. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes.

This is it… the nightmare that haunted me right after Mom died. I stood in a field filled with several stone markers, similar to the one where Mom was buried. Resting on top were limp bodies, each wearing the face of a loved one. Their bodies had entire chunks of flesh ripped out of them. The crumbled white-cloaked figure had blood seeping through the ruined cloth, with an arm hanging from only a sinew. Dad looked shocked, staring blankly into the sky as a pool of blood collected within his disemboweled stomach. My sister's beautiful hair was ripped and messy, covering her clawed off face.

Before, this field had just three bodies: one for Mom, one for Dad, and one for Yang. But now… there were dozens of gravestones on this hill. Blake and Weiss hung from their own stones, faces stuck in horror forever. JNPR were in various poses: Jaune on some kind of crucifix, Pyrrha with arrows piercing her heel and heart, Nora having her torso crushed into a paste, Ren with a slit across his throat. Every person I've befriended in my time here laid here, all mutilated by the Grimm and left for dead.

Looking at their gravestones brought up unnerving visions; scenarios where I failed to save them. No matter what I did, I was always just a few seconds too late. I felt my heart grow heavy as tears started streaming down my face. The screams of all of my friends resounded in my mind, all because I failed to be the hero everyone needed. And standing in the center of all that was the lizard.

A flicker of the tongue caused the creature to pause, bringing me back to the room. It turned its head to look at me. The burden of despair caused my knees to start buckling. But my mind forced them up. If I want to beat this thing, I have to remain standing even with this weight threatening to bring me down. Rose floated to my side. It felt like I was holding up the sky. How many Huntsmen felt this way? Not moving forwards for a better future, but for the sake of their loved ones? The lizard turned around to face me. I don't know how long I have to carry this amount of despair, but I'll make sure I'll defeat it before I fall to it.

The lizard snarled, charging at me. " **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " I yelled, Rose beginning her own attack. The two Stands ran at each other, approaching the center of the room. It's time for this monster to fall.

⇐ _ **TO BE CONTINUED**_ **= May 12, 2017**


	10. Belfry Falls - Part 2

"Jaune, we're here." I nodded as my partner undid her belt straps before looking up in the airbus cabin. The big transport ship was empty now at this time of day, with us being the only passengers. Well, team JNPR and the giant human sized sloth strapped next to Nora. She's more or less recovered from our experience within the arcade. The girl's still hyperactive as usual, switching from doting on the plush toy and telling Ren next to her a story, one that I couldn't hear due to my nausea. Ren himself nodded absentmindedly, letting his childhood friend tell her tale.

My body shook in its harness as our vehicle docked itself. Considering how I no longer felt waves of nausea travel through my body, I can say with confidence that yeah, we're on the ground. A groan escaped my mouth as my wiry fingers pried at the latch that held me to the seat. The second I was free from the straps, I threw myself out of the metal bird, holding my mouth closed to prevent cheap fast food from coming out. A cold night air greeted me as I found myself on solid ground. Come on Jaune, deep breaths. You didn't throw up last time in the Bullhead, you can do it this time. Just keep taking slow, consistent breaths.

Pyrrha slipped by my side and started rubbing the sides of my neck. "Are you going better now?" My head shook up and down, removing my hand as my nausea faded away. One more deep breath in… and one more out. Let the nausea wash over you, Jaune. And just like that, the air sickness that plagued me went away. Wow, I really am getting better at being airsick. I gave her a smile.

"Yeah. Thanks, Pyrrha." My hands flew up into the air as I pulled at my inactive muscles. "Man, it feels nice to get over my nausea a little faster than last time. Still, I wouldn't mind having another way to get back to Beacon. It would be nice not having to deal with any airsickness at all."

I looked back at the ship to see Nora trying to squat. However, the head of the plushie caught on the top of the door, preventing her and Ren from leaving. "Renny!" She looked at the person in the plane. "I can't get down any lower! Help Rossie out! Push his head under the frame of the door!" Her partner let out a sigh. Within moments, she escaped from the airbus with a pop, the soft toy now free from its trap. The girl hopped up to her feet with a grin, trotting over to me.

"Hey Jaune, I overheard what you said earlier. You know, about having an alternate pathway that isn't an airship? Yeah, I remember one. Did you know that there's an elevator on the side of the cliff?"

Both Pyrrha and I raised our eyebrows. Huh? There's an elevator? I stepped towards the hyperactive girl. "Wait, really?"

She nodded. "Yeah! You know how there's a harbor at the end of the river? The one right in front of the waterfall?"

I blinked. "We have a harbor?" Nora frowned at the question.

"How do you not know? I mean, all you have to do is look out of the—" She paused once she noticed the champion gave her a weird look. "… Oh yeah, right. Forgot, sorry. But yeah, there's a really fast elevator that shoots you up from the base of the cliff all the way to the top! They mainly use it for bringing supplies and such up to the school from Vale, but there's room for regular people like us!"

"Hmm…" I scratched my head. "How do you know that? I mean, I don't think the school mentioned that fact. How would you know about an elevator?"

A familiar sigh escaped from Ren as he walked into our circle. "I don't think anybody would care, but don't tell anyone this. We used it to get to Beacon on the first day of school. We've always been strapped for lien before going to Beacon, and we blew through a lot of our savings applying for the Hunter Academies." Together, we started towards the buildings as Nora nodded at Ren. She adjusted the sloth on her shoulders.

"Yep! So the day before we were supposed to head over to Beacon, we were wondering how we would get up that cliff without spending any more money when we saw this transport ship pass under the waterfall! So that got us thinking, maybe there's a way into Beacon from the bottom up! So that night, we sneaked into the place, and it had all of these shipping boxes! And there were these guards, I think there were more than fifty in there! So we thought, there's got to be an elevator or something where they can ship all of the stuff up."

"Then by sheer luck, we found somebody loading up cardboard boxes into an elevator shaft and sending it up! So the next day, we managed to grab cardboard boxes roughly the size of us and went back in. It was so tense, sneaking through the facility with nothing more than a cardboard box around us, especially since it was during the day, but Ren is pretty good at sneaking around, so I just followed his lead. Eventually, we made it to the elevator, sat ourselves down in place, and got shot up to the storage area! After that, it was just a matter of time before we found a hatch that led up to the airship platforms!" She stopped to point into the sky in a dramatic pose.

"... Aren't you going to correct her, Ren? She's exaggerating, right?" I asked the boy, causing him to shrug.

"Why correct something that's actually happened?" My eyes widened at the admission, as well as Pyrrha's.

I pointed at the two. "Wait, really? You two snuck into what is a probably a storage facility, moved past several guards, risked losing your place at Beacon and being thrown in jail for breaking and entering, all because you didn't want to pay the airfare to Beacon?"

Nora nodded, the plush bobbing with her movements. "Yeah, that's the idea."

Pyrrha brushed a lock of hair off of her face. "Nora, you know that Beacon pays for everything? Including transport for Initiation?" Her fellow redhead shrugged as she rolled her eyes.

"Of course we do, Pyrrha! Just… not at the time." A sheepish grin grew across Nora's face. "Still, it was pretty fun."

At that, Ren made a small chuckle. "It was pretty relaxing compared to what we faced in the wilderness. The stakes were a lot more manageable." He looked up before frowning. "Hmm... Everyone, do you think that the guy over there's okay?" I glanced up to see somebody stumbling towards us, close to Beacon's statue. His skin was riddled with bruise marks, particularly around the neck down. His white undershirt was stained with blood that was still dripping from his nose. I swore I saw a bit of blood in his mouth, ready to come out. My stomach dropped. Wasn't he a student here? Why is he bleeding?

"Hey dude, are you okay?" I yelled over to the guy, causing him to stop and look at me. "You look like you got beat up pretty bad."

"Oh?" His eyes gazed down at his body. "Yeah, I don't look too good, do I? Well— Ugh!" He tripped, letting out a cough and sending a spray of blood all over the cement. We all recoiled, letting out sounds of disgust. Nora covered the eyes of the sloth with one of her hands. "No, I'm not fine. Do… do you guys happen to know why I can find a doctor around here? I've been lost for roughly an hour now, I have this terrible headache from a party I came back from, I'm coughing up blood all over the floor. It's just been a terrible day for me, and I could really use some help."

Ren stepped forwards as he pointed in a certain direction. "Nurse's office is left from the statue. There's a recreation center, with steel walls instead of brick or concrete. Find the front entrance of that, and the infirmary is a couple of buildings to the right of the door."

"Alright. Something's going my way for once. That's better than the luck I've been getting earlier. Thanks, guys." With that, he started back around for the fountain.

"Wait!" I started towards him. "Don't you want us to escort you or something?" He held a hand up, stopping me in my tracks.

"Thanks, but no thanks. It's getting pretty late out. I don't want to waste any more of your time dealing with me. Plus, I kinda want to keep this a secret. Don't want to freak out the rest of my team, you know?" He gave us a bloody smile, which twisted a knot in my stomach. The boy glanced around the area. "Um… I should be getting over there before I get any worse." Before I could say anything else, he limped away from us. Team JPNR watched him in silence as he disappeared out of our sight.

"… We should get back to the dorms as soon as possible," Ren started. "Something's not right about him." I wish I could agree with him out loud. The signs are obvious. Wounds? On a Hunter-in-Training? Either he's a victim of a Stand, or he's a Stand user. Either option isn't good. That means that there's bound to be even more Stand users out there. The Grimm baby's working faster than I thought it would.

But what is more concerning is what Ruby's doing right now. Knowing her luck, Ruby's probably fighting the Stand right now. Which means that she might need backup. After all, she couldn't do a lot against me in the duel. What if there's a Stand that can also materialize itself? None of us know how to handle that!

Every bone in my body wants to go off and find her. In fact, I would go look for her right now if it wasn't for my teammates being right here with me. They're going to need a Stand user near them if the battle comes our way. Plus, something tells me it's going to be a bad idea to call her while a Stand is running rampant in Beacon.

"Yeah." I gestured towards the dormitory. "Let's just go back, get some rest." I wonder how long it's going to take for everybody to fall asleep, so I could sneak out and find Ruby. "It's been a long day, after all. Forget what just happened. I'm sure he's going to be okay." I hoped they would fall asleep fast enough for me to help my friend. Ruby, hold on there. Please be okay.

* * *

A screech escaped from the reptile as Rose landed a blow on the back of its neck, taking first blood in our renewed fight. Almost instantly, it twisted itself under her, allowing the fist to roll off of it. I felt heat radiating from my face. Come on, go down! The second its feet hit the ground, it barreled towards me, jaws shooting wide open for a bite. I charged the monster with a pained scream. You're not getting a single bite of me!

My body burst into petals before he could bite into me, cutting my eyesight from the rest of the room. Everything was dark and hazy for awhile. I did notice the blurry figure of the hulking creature charging past me and slamming itself into a nearby wall. I reformed my entire body right after its impact, and I landed on the ground with a solid thump. I spun on my feet, the lizard doing the same so that we faced each other. The whole entire room went silent as we stared each other down.

I glanced back at team RWBY, who stared at me with wonder and awe. It's a good thing that my Stand ability looks similar to my usual Semblance. If I'm careful with it, I think I could get away with using my ability without anybody becoming the wiser. Besides, something tells me that it wouldn't go too well with my teammates if they learned I can transform any part of my body into rose petals. It would be a shocker to them.

My eyes turned towards the patterned monster. But fighting this Stand was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Before I struggled with getting through its skin while protecting the rest of the group from being attacked. But now, it's growing more clever, making sure it doesn't take a direct blow like before. It's also strange that it's now staying back, picking its battles instead of blindly chasing after me. I gritted my teeth. Every second I waste fighting this thing, it's a second the beast has to bite the rest of us. And if it does—

The ruined bodies of my friends appeared in my mind for a moment before I pushed it aside. No. I can't let that happen to my team. I'm going to need to take it down, and soon. But how? It's clear that Rose doesn't have any tricks up her sleeve. All I can do with her is punch the lizard hard. And all I could do is transform into petals in order to dodge or move. No offensive potential whatsoever. I can't afford to play a game of attrition, but this monster's forcing me to play anyways! Man, I wish I had Jaune and his Stand. At least he can turn items into weapons that can actually work against this beast.

An idea struck me. I know for a fact that Stands can affect other Stands. That much is obvious. There are Stands that can't be beaten in a straight fight. I think my battle with this reptile showed me that well enough. But I think I'm missing an even more obvious solution. Maybe it's because I only fought against Jaune who has a Stand incorporated into his body, but what if I just find the user and convince them to undo everything? Or if that doesn't work, just beat them up until they say yes? Then everybody will be free from the toxins or whatever is affecting them!

A sudden jerk forwards by the lizard caused me to jump back. It too backed away, sending me a wary glare. A feint. My mind went back to my train of thought. I know that Stand users have no Aura protecting them, so they can get hurt if anyone attacks them. I have my ability to keep my body safe, Jaune has his Stand within his body. But this user's Stand is right here! So it can't be protecting the user's body. In fact, the lizard has been following Yang this whole entire time! Which means if I find the user, they're wide open!

I stared into the monster's eyes as I felt something rise up in my chest. I got you now. The white cloaked Stand made its way back to me. If only I can figure out the range of this Stand. Rose has a range of ten meters, but then again, that's the furthest away I've seen a Stand go. Who knows how far a Stand can go from its user? Within one building? A city's length away? I scratched my head, groaning with frustration. Why does this have to be so complicated?

"Are you okay there, Ruby?" Weiss called out from the corner.

My eyes went over to look at her. "Yeah, I'm just thinking. Don't you worry, guys."

"I wouldn't say that." Blake leaned over her frozen partner. "Something's wrong with Yang's Aura. More than usual. You have to see this." She stepped away, showing my sister covered by a vibrant yellow field of energy. Electrical currents were visible on her Aura. "What I'm saying is obvious, but I'm pretty sure that Aura shouldn't actively glow like that." Wait. I looked around the room. Now that I think about it, everybody's Aura is glowing. An array of the colors of everyone's soul lit up the carpet. Blake's bow twitched. "The only time it should glow is when it's close to—"

The sounds of shattering glass interrupted her. My head twisted back to the corner to see the last pieces of Yang's Aura fade into the air. No… the bites were attacking their Aura the whole entire time? As if to answer my question, several individuals' Aura broke in front of my eyes. My jaw dropped as the barriers around them dissipated in the air. Oh gods, no… This can't be happening. Not the bodies. No! It's not supposed to end up like this!

"Oh my gods!"

My head jerked back to the rest of my team, only for me to gasp in surprise. Yang's eyes widened as her chest started… moving. And not in the breathing fashion either. No, there was a lump forming against her torso that moved unnaturally. It was like there was someone kind of… alien inside her body, pressing against her chest and moving around. Like something wanted to come out. Her body started spazzing out as the lump moved even faster, striking against her chest harder and harder.

"Weiss, Blake!" I pointed at the girl. "Hold Yang down!"

They didn't need any other order. The rest of team RWBY slammed into my sister, pinning her arms and legs to the ground. Not a moment later they gasped as they watched Yang's chest started to… swell up. It's like how bubbly lumps would form on the surface of a cooked egg if the skillet is too hot. Several of those bubbles distorted her body as if she's almost ready to burst.

I felt a bead of sweat slipping down my face as I watched all of this happening. This can't be happening… This can't be happening! Oh gods, what kind of venom is in that lizard's mouth that can cause all of this? That means— I jerked my head towards the rest of the room. Almost all of the fallen bodies were warping. Everybody's bloating up! What could this mean? Are they going to explode if their bodies can't handle the pressure anymore? What would people say if they saw this? There's so much to take in, I don't know what to—

From the corners of my eye, I caught movement. My instincts overrode my thoughts as I threw myself to the side to dodge. That was a big mistake. Several sharp pricks bore down my right arm, breaking through my clothing and skin. Several daggers of pain shot up my arm a moment later, causing me to let out a scream of anguish. I turned to see what it could be to see the smirk of the lizard. A curse formed on my tongue before I swallowed it. The cheeky animal came after me while I was distracted with everybody in the room!

I could only watch in horror as blood gushed out from under the monster's mouth, staining my black sleeves crimson. I let another scream escape my mouth while digging my fingers under its lip, trying to pry it off. In an instant, Rose flew up to the monster and threw a solid jab at the Stand's bleeding nostril. Another spout of blood flew out of the beast, followed by the teeth clamping tighter on me. What the— let me go! Instead, it shook itself back and forth, dragging my body around and splattering our mixed blood all over the room.

My mind raced. I can feel the toxins flowing through my veins. Even now, I can feel my right forearm twitching rapidly while bubbles floated to the surface of the arm. There's no way to control my body if it goes up my body! Everybody else is lucky that the toxins just affect their Aura! Without that, if it reaches my heart, I'm going to blow up and die— I took a deep breath. No, calm down. There's a way to make sure it doesn't do that. I grimaced. This is the last thing I want to do. I didn't want to show this to the rest of the girls. It's going to cause everyone to panic. But I need to survive! I have to protect them!

Flesh right past my right shoulder started peeling back as they transformed. With a grunt, I grabbed my right bicep and pulled. Another round of pain registered in my arm. Come on body, don't be coy with me! You've done it before, now do it again! I can feel my heart beat faster as the bubbles continued up my arm. Just get it rip it off—

I felt myself jerk backward as the limb finally came loose, hanging by what felt like a thread. One more tug… All I have to do is—! I watched as my right sleeve rip and become loose as I finally separated myself from my right arm. In the lizard's jaw hung my right arm. Blood ran down the pale limb from the bite marks, curving around the blister-like formations as it dripped to the floor. The stump had dark, red rose petals exposed instead of bone and flesh. A shred of black synthetic fabric slipped out of the monster's mouth, landing on the ground.

At that moment, the room was filled with silence. I looked at my right side. What remained of the sleeve hung loose and flattened out now that there's nothing through it. A piece on the sleeve was ripped away, now laying on the floor in front of me. I turned over to team RWBY to see their reactions. Yang looked terrified at what happened, her eyes moving from the fabric to me. Blake, stoic as she is, couldn't help but put a hand over her mouth. My partner had wide eyes, looking at the limb floating in the air, and then back at me. Her mouth opened.

"Weiss, before you say anything—"

"Oh my gods!" Weiss backed herself into the wall as she slapped both of her hands on her cheeks. She pointed a shaky finger at my missing arm. "Ruby, your arm fell off! And it's floating in the air! This is… what is—? What the hell is going on?!"

"Calm down!" I yelled. "If you keep panicking, the lizard's going to—" The monster spat my arm out and flicked its tongue in the air. Oh no. It turned to the corner team RWBY's at and started trotting towards them. I've got to keep it from biting them. What to do, what to do. My eyes fell upon the abandoned arm. My mind started crunching. Oh man, I'm not going to like this. I dived towards the limb, snatching it up with my good hand. Even for me, it's a stupid idea, but what other choice do I have? I raised the limb, ready to throw.

It flopped around in my grasp, and my hand landed in my hair. A shiver went down my spine. I didn't need to know how weird it would be to touch myself with my severed hand. Time to check that off of the bucket list of "Things That Shouldn't be Happening, but Did Anyways." With a yell, I pitched the arm as far as I possibly could. It twisted in the air as it broke down, showering the area with rose petals. And the lizard, not knowing of my stupid plan, ran right into the cloud.

At once, the rose petals came back together, clamping down the lizard's muzzle. I watched in part fascination and part horror as my arm reformed around it. There were some differences to my normal arm, one being my hand is fused to the rose stump. Another is how my arm bent around its muzzle in an unnatural way. Biology might not be my best subject, but I'm sure that human bones aren't supposed to bend around like that. I felt myself shiver as I stared at the muzzle clamp I made out of my own arm. Some part of me wants to gag.

Weiss beat me to the punch as one hand flew to her mouth. The other hand grabbed her torso. She turned around and collapsed, making retching noises at the wall. I felt a pang of pity. Poor Weiss. I don't think she even wanted to be here. And now she has to watch me lose an arm and watch it be contorted in mid-air. That's how non-Stand users see this, right? A cough managed to catch Blake's attention. I gave the cat faunus as serious of a look as possible.

"Blake, get Weiss to calm down," I ordered, right sleeve flapping around as I moved towards the beast. "This thing is attacking anyone that's feeling the most negative emotions within the area. I want it to focus on me. Also, make sure everybody is facing the wall. I think it's best if no one else saw what's happening." She nodded, turning Yang around before dashing over to the heiress' side. Now that I have Weiss covered, about that Stand user. How am I going to find the person? They could be anywhere on the campus, let alone the city of Vale! How am I going to pick out a Stand user out of millions of people?

The lizard turned towards me and laid down, paws going up to scrape at the gag around it. My eyes fell to the caked up blood on the lizard's nose. That's it! A Stand user takes damage every time their Stand gets hurt! I'll just look for a person with a bloody nose and a ton of bruises on them! … Okay, that wouldn't help me… a ton of people in the city doesn't have any Aura… but then again, how many people would get beat up and left bloody and bruised. Plus, if it's a person on campus, it's guaranteed to be them! I'm just going to have to bet on—

I felt my right arm scream in pain. My face winced as I reached for the arm that wasn't there. What's going on? I glanced at the lizard, who had its claws out. Sharp, pointy claws ran down my forearm, with me feeling agony right afterward. Oh, come on! I can feel pain even when my limbs are off of my body? Then again, that makes sense, since it's still alive and part of me and— argh! Geez, it hurts so much! My amputated limb started bleeding over the monster's muzzle, and it renewed its assault with confidence.

My Stand flew towards the creature, throwing a left punch at its limbs. All it did was allow it to scratch my hand, creating gashes down my still attached arm. My teeth ground against each other. No! I can't take it anymore! The hand was released from the rose looking stump, flopping to the ground. Oww, geez! I tried to have my right-hand nurse the left, only to see the limb bend and flop on the floor. Oh yeah, I forgot. Instead, I rubbed the wound on my thigh. Blood smeared on my stockings as I did so.

Well, that idea worked for two minutes. The lizard stood up, eyes glaring at me. Good news, Blake managed to get everyone else under control. Bad news, it's coming after me again. I don't have much time left! I gotta find the user now! Vision from my right eye vanished. My left eye could see rose petals floating from where my eye used to me. It floated towards the front door, sliding under the crack below the door. I hope I could survive long enough for my eye to be set up.

The lizard let out a hiss before charging at me again. My Stand floated in front of me, ready to fend off the attacker. It opened with a feint, biting at Rose before diving at me. Before it could go any further, a white hand grabbed its tail. Rose flew forwards, dragging the creature through the air. With a grunt, she slammed the Stand into the wall, creating yet another crater.

I reeled back as my other eye finished reforming, showing me a view of outside the building, on top of one of the sign letters. I could see the entire street outside and what's happening inside the rec center. My left hand grabbed my aching head. Whoa, I'm seeing double. It's so confusing to tell where I am! I know that I'm in the building, but my brain thinks I'm also outside. I have to cover one of the eyes up. If I cover the right, I can't find the Stand user. But if I close my left, I put myself open to attack!

" _Do whatever you need to do,_ " Rose whispered from the other side of the room, keeping a hold on the monster's tail. Despite its softness, I could hear her words with clarity. " _My purpose is to protect you. I will do so even if you don't command me to._ "

I nodded, closing my left eye. It became a lot easier to focus now that I'm not seeing two backgrounds at the same time. The night hid everything in a shroud, only broken through the streetlights illuminating the streets. My eyeball glanced left and right, looking for anyone. Come on, where's the user? The sounds of plaster breaking apart registered in my ears. Rose must've thrown the monster into another wall. I felt my heart sink as I caught nobody in my view. What if they went to sleep in the dorms?

Maybe I could bait the lizard into chasing me, running through the campus as I look for the user… no, that's a bad idea. Somebody's going to panic at the sight of me, and that might get another person bit. But what else could I do? We can't stay in here; that's certain death for all of us. There has to be—

A gasp escaped my mouth as all of the air was forced out of my lungs. Ugh… what happened? I uncovered my left eye to see a tail slamming into Rose's chest. Oh, that's not good. How am I going to focus on finding the user if all this thing's going to do is distract me? " _Keep going,_ " my Stand sang as it slammed one of her hands against its tail.

Thank you, Rose. I close my left eye again. There's not a lot of time left until the lizard overwhelms Rose. I should make this fast— Wait… who's that?

My right eye squinted at a shadow approaching the building. This that person… limping? I tried to get as good of a look as possible. The streetlights illuminated a student wearing a blue jacket. He didn't look too good. His face is puffy, and his entire skin is blue and black from bruises. A constant trickle of blood ran down his nose, staining the entire collar of his white undershirt. Could this be…?

"Rose, can you give the monster a punch in the muzzle?" I asked. Moments later, the boy stumbled as more blood shot out from his nose. Hands wearing fingerless gloves went to his face, pinching off the nose. He muttered something that I couldn't hear. I felt hope rising in my body. Finally! I've found him!

"Bingo! I got him!" I started for the door. "Everybody, stay where you are! I'm going to get you out of this! Rose! Try to hold off the monster as long as possible!" Nobody answered, either due to fear or due to the toxin— and now I realized what I just said. Really? Stay where you are? I shook my head. Now's not the time! I have to take this guy down! My body picked up speed as I readied myself to bust through the glass. A roar escaped my mouth as I threw my shoulder at the open mechanism.

I felt myself tumble as the door flew wide open, sending me into a tumble. I coughed as I rolled across the ground, eventually stopping with my body facing up towards the late night sky. The shattered moon glowed down on us.

The boy in blue jumped back in surprise of my sudden entrance, before stepping towards me. "Oh gods! Whoa! Geez, you look terrible! Hey, are you okay? You don't look too—"

"You!" I bounced up to my feet, ordering my fingers to point at him. "I demand you—"

"Wait, who me?" He pointed to himself.

"Yeah, you! Who else am I pointing to?"

He stayed silent. "… You're not pointing at any— oh gods, what happened to your arm?!"

I glanced at my right arm, to see the sleeve hanging limply. Oh yeah. Forgot again. I switched to my left, giving him the toughest glare I can manage. "Forget about the arm! You've done a terrible thing inside there, Mister… um…" I tapped my chin.

"Nolan."

"Nolan!" The finger moved back towards him. "I demand that you take your Stand back and undo everything!"

"Stand?" Nolan raised an eyebrow. "What in the world's a Stand? I'm just trying to get some medical attention." He groaned, reaching for his head. "Case in point: very bad headache, bleeding nose, the bruises all over my body, all that good stuff."

Huh? My finger went down. "You don't know what's going on?"

He shook his head. "The only thing I know is going on is that I keep getting bruises out of nowhere! And that I keep getting nosebleeds! I don't know what you're trying to say, but you've got the wrong guy, okay? Just leave me alone and let me get some medical attention!"

From the tone of his voice, I can tell he's being sincere. Maybe what he's saying is true. Maybe he doesn't know anything about the Stands. But at the same time, his lizard has paralyzed everyone inside the room, including Yang. If he can't call it back… My heart sank. I'm going to feel bad for this.

I shook my head. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Rose materialized behind me, causing his eyes to widen. "Even if you don't know, your Stand caused too much damage, damage that could only be repaired if it is defeated. And if you can't get rid of the effects…"

He seemed to understand the implication, taking a step back. "Y-You mean that thing behind you is a Stand? And that means— No! Please, no! Can't we do it any other way?"

"I'm sorry, Nolan." I started towards him. "You're a good person, and I don't want this to happen. But people are hurt. Including my sister." Ten meters. I'm in range now. "Just know that this is going to hurt me just as much as it's going to hurt you." As the last word escaped my mouth, Rose flew towards the boy. " **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " I yelled.

He collapsed to the floor, holding his arms up to his face. "Please, gods no! Please don't do this!" I grimaced. To think that I'm beating up an innocent kid, who can't properly control his own Stand. Is this what I've become? What happened to being the hero? I steeled myself. It's what I'm doing for everybody in the building. They need to be freed from the effects of the toxin. No matter how bad it feels, if it means that everybody else is going to be free, I'll take the burden of guilt. Besides, I can come and visit him, make up for what I'm going to do to him.

A flash of green registered in the corner of my eye. A blur bolted in front of the boy, blocking the blow with its tail. My jaw dropped as the monster twisted its head around, giving me a murderous glare. What? How did it get here so quickly? It shouldn't have reached us out here. Even after calling Rose back, there's no way it could make it back to me in time unless… Did this guy call back his Stand by instinct? I swallowed. If he managed to gain control of the lizard…

Nolan pulled himself back into a standing position, staring at the monster in front of him. "You… I saw you before, back in the building. **「** **BELFRY FALLS.** **」** " The newly named Stand didn't respond, instead pushing Rose back. All of a sudden, this Stand acted tamer, staying right in front of its user. It contrasted against its wild and unpredictable nature beforehand. "So Belfry's a Stand? I-I don't believe it." He glanced up at me, a mixture of confusion and fury in his eyes. "You. You did this to me. My broken nose, all of the bruises, this is your fault, isn't it?"

"I didn't have a choice!" I yelled, stepping towards the boy. My left hand curled up. I felt the unfamiliar emotion of anger rising in my chest. "I was trying to keep everyone safe from your Stand! I didn't even know that you were a Stand user until a couple of minutes ago!" I slammed my hand into my chest. "But now, you must have control of the lizard! Release everybody from their paralysis!"

The blue-clad boy threw his hands out in frustration. "I don't know how! What am I supposed to do? I know just as much as you do: nothing! Why couldn't we wait a day while I recover in the nurse's office, see if the effects wear off? Maybe everybody will get better."

"And what happens if the toxins don't wear off?" I teetered to my left side as I kept moving towards Nolan. Rose stayed half a meter in front of me, on her guard if Belfry tried anything funny. "What if they kill somebody before you're fully recovered? Look inside right now!" I jabbed a finger towards the entrance. "Everybody in that room is swelling up like a balloon, ready to explode! People are going to die if nothing happens. We don't have time on our side, Nolan. Let them go!"

The boy's pink colored eyes shook in its sockets. Wrinkles formed on his forehead as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "Again, if I knew how, I would do it. This is— this is too much to take in. I need a night to collect all of this together. All I want to do is go to the nurse's office, take an ibuprofen, and throw linen sheets over myself and get a good night's sleep. I can't do what you want me to do, so let me go. Please." I stopped five meters in front of him, widening my posture. He seemed to get the message, letting out a growl. "Step aside. I can't help you. Isn't that reason enough?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "No, it's not. There's no way I can step to the side. Not before everybody is free from the toxin." I rubbed the back of my head with my only arm. "Nolan, I wished this conversation would go differently. Your life is turned upside down. I understand that; my life was like that too when my Stand appeared. I'm still not used to it. But right now, people's lives are at stake. At least stay here long enough to figure out how to remove it."

His eyes glanced at the front door. What was he thinking about? The students paralyzed by his Stand, although to no fault of his own? Why is everything happening to him? Nolan never looked more conflicted in his life. It must've been the roughest day for him, considering what has happened. I hope he would make the right choice.

Nolan glanced back up at me, sorrow in his eyes. "I stand by what I said. This is too much for me. What you're asking of me is insane. I— I can't do it." He let out a sigh. "I'm not staying, and you're not going to step aside. Neither of us is going to move from our stances. I guess that only means one thing." His Stand started to approach me. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Rose readied her stance. I felt tears run down my cheek for this poor kid. He doesn't deserve this. "I'm sorry as well." A pregnant pause ended our conversation as we stared each other down. It felt like a movie set in the Great Desert of Sanus, where two duelists readied themselves to fight for their lives. Humanoid twirled around the reptile, both awaiting orders from their respective users.

In a flash, Belfry pounced at Rose, jaws wide open for a bite. My Stand floated back half a meter, ready to attack as the beast landed. The lizard smiled. Before I could realize what's going on, it twisted itself in the air, swinging its tail into Rose's side. I gritted my teeth as my mind registered the pain on my right side. With a flick, Belfry sent Rose flying off to the side, suddenly jerking in the air as she reached her max range.

The reptilian Stand landed on its feet, facing me. All I could do was stare in disbelief. The monster couldn't do this while we fought each other. Is this the difference between an uncontrolled Stand and a controlled one? Before I could figure out the answer, it bounded towards me, unhinging its jaws as it leaped. I felt my face drain of blood. Oh no. I tried taking a couple of steps back, but it was too close to dodge.

I cursed under my breath as the beast landed on me, knocking me down to the ground. It bared its fangs at me before lunging. My mind flashed back to the dream. Oh no, you don't! Before it could take a bite out of me, my left hand struck at its neck, stopping it just short of clipping my nose off. The lizard snapped at me, releasing the terrible odor of rotting blood. I struggled to restrain a gag as I held it back.

From the strangling sounds of the lizard, I heard Nolan speak up. "Give it up! Just let me go, and I'll let you go!"

"Never!" I saw the lizard raise its tail back right after I made my declaration. No! I can't defend against that! Come on Rose, get back here as fast as possible! I glanced at where my Stand was. She's flying towards me, arms raised as to intercept the beast. She's not going to make it! If only I had another second… if only I had two hands—

"Fine!" The sharpened appendage flew down towards the bone between my eyes. Rose petals flew past my face and through my right sleeve, reforming my missing limb. Without a further thought, I grabbed the tail and pushed it to the side. It sank into the ground, sending bits of dusty concrete into the air. I shivered as I felt cracks forming under my shoulder. That was close. Two inches to the right, and it would've got me.

A second later, a white fist made contact with Belfry, splattering blood all over my face. It hissed at me as the blow sent it flying off to the right. Nolan's hand shot up to his face as his nose spurted more blood. He took a couple of steps back, groaning as he nursed his wounds.

But I can't worry about that. I pushed myself back up upright, staring at my reformed right arm. I made a mistake; I've injected myself with the toxin again. This time, I can't lop it off like last time. I can feel it climbing into my shoulder the moment I was freed. A shiver went down my entire body as the bubbles climbed up my body. The poison must've spread out in my arm while it remained unattached to me. There's no other way it could affect me this fast. My time's run out. I have to finish this battle now!

"Your arm's back." I looked up to see Nolan staring at me. "It was gone before, and now it's here. Is that… a bite mark?"

I nodded. "I ripped my arm out to avoid exposure from the toxin. But now… it's too late for me."

He straightened up. "That means… oh gods. Oh, what have I done?" He brought his hand over his bleeding mouth. "I wished it didn't go this way." He started walking towards me, about to pass my body. "If it's any comfort, I'll get the nurses to come after you guys. It's the right thing to do after what I must've put you through." I gritted my teeth. I've already lost sensation in my torso. His Stand's even scarier if he's controlling it! It's not going to stop protecting him no matter what. However, I might have something up my sleeve. I felt my heart beat faster in anticipation. Nolan hasn't won yet!

I spoke up right after he walked past me. "This isn't over. I'm not out until I can't move my body at all." I twisted my body to face him, seeing him do the same. I gave him a cheeky grin. " **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** "

His eyes widened as Rose appeared behind me, throwing a punch towards him. Before he could say anything, the lizard stepped in front of him, jabbing its tail towards the Stand. Bingo. With the last bit of strength in my legs, I threw myself directly into the tail. I lost my vision as the point went through my face, my head becoming rose petals before it could hit anything important. My body collapsed to the floor face down.

The red petals slid under me, reforming my head. I could hear him gasping at my action. It was impulsive, to say the least. But a calm washed over me. I would be a bit freaked out at how calm I felt, but I didn't feel fear, either. There's no need to get emotional at all. I have him right where I wanted him.

Footsteps ran towards me. My ears caught muttering sounds of denial. Before I realized it, I felt somebody grasp my sides and rolling me face up. Nolan peered at my prone body, his face contorting from worry to relief. "Whew! That was close! For a moment, I thought I killed you."

His eyes widened with shock as Rose appeared in front of me and slammed her fist into his stomach. Nolan hacked out more blood as he staggered back. One of his hands flew over, grasping his torso as he weathered out the pain. "Ow," he started, wiping the red liquid off of his chin. "Why did you do that? I dropped my guard to see if you're okay, and you punch me in the gut."

"There's people that need to be saving." I planted my left hand on the ground. With a grunt, I pushed myself back up to a kneeling position. That's all I could do now. I've just lost the sensation in my left arm. It's already crawling up towards my neck. "I'm only doing what's necessary to make sure they make it out of this alive."

"… You've done enough already." Nolan pointed at my kneeling body. "Judging from your stance, you've just lost control of your limbs. Otherwise, wouldn't you have brought yourself to a standing position? You're immobile. It was a cheap trick you pulled off there, but it doesn't change the fact that you're in no condition to do anything. You don't have any moves left."

"Oh? I'm still in control of my head." My Stand moved in front of me. "That means I still have one chance left." Rose dashed towards him, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

" **「** **BELFRY FALLS!** **」** " The monster didn't respond. "Huh? **「** **BELFRY FALLS!** **」** " Again, no response. "What's going on?" The boy turned over to where is Stand was. The monster bared its teeth, flickering its tongue, and pounced. Its tail moved out of the way before it could get it, causing it to hiss in frustration. "What in the— what is Belfry doing?"

"Nolan, take a look at its tail." He did, only to gasp. On its tip was a small piece of flesh, only the size of a walnut. However, the lizard was doing everything in its power to bite it, to no effect. "You've got a strong Stand, but you don't know everything about it. For one thing, it attacks the individual with the strongest emotions. So I was wondering, what would happen if I attached the emotional part of my brain to the tail of your Stand? What would happen?" I smiled. "I guess we know now."

His eyes widened as he realized what's going on. Nolan tried taking a couple of steps back to avoid Rose before being greeted with a punch to the face. My Stand let out a ferocious roar, slamming fist after fist at every part of his body. It contorted with every blow, creating a series of craters on him. It reminded me of those old images of carpet bombing during the Great War, if it was on such a small scale.

With a final blow, Rose sent the boy flying into the recreation center building, knocking him out cold. With his loss of consciousness, Belfry disappeared, dropping the piece of my brain. He's already healing up, the bruises under his clothes fading away. I felt my muscles stop shaking. Did it actually? I clenched my right hand. It's working again! And my arms— The bubbles are gone! The amygdala transformed, returning back to its rightful place in my head. Once again, I could feel relief.

I collapsed to the ground, letting off a hoarse laugh. Rose disappeared, and I felt my Aura working overtime to knit my wounds back together. One last flash of the field of bodies came to mind. I pushed it aside as I kept my eye on Nolan's ragged body. It's over. Nobody's going to die tonight. We're safe.

⇐ _ **TO BE CONTINUED**_ **= 5/26/2017**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Reference: Nolan's 「BELFRY FALLS」is a reference to the Grudges' Belfry Falls. It is a grindcore song released in 2011. Grindcore for those who don't know is a combination of hardcore punk, extreme metal, industrial, and noise rock. Now while I have a taste of industrial music, grindcore isn't my thing. But ultimately I chose Belfry Falls based on its ability. The song itself talks about the apocalypse and the end days and the destruction of everything around it. 「BELFRY FALLS」is a Stand that in a sense represents that crippling panic of life turning upside down and the paralyzing fear that comes with this sudden change.


	11. Is This To Be?

I let out a sigh as I watched my opponent's chest rise and fall for a few minutes. He didn't look like he was in critical condition now. Most of the bruises made by Rose were gone now. His Aura healed him up quite well. I can see the black and blue spots that still persisted fading away, leaving his skin pale and clear. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about his nose. The blood's stopped rushing out of it, but it was twisted in an awkward position. It would be terrible if his nose healed like that. Nolan's going to need a nurse or someone else to get it snapped back into place.

The sound of a door opening registered in my ears. "Ruby!" I turned my head to see Weiss propping the door open with a broken table leg. She looked relieved. "You should come inside! There's something you have to see!"

My heart dropped. "What? Wait, Weiss! Is everyone okay?" Did I fail? Was I too late? Is everybody…? My feet slammed against the pavement as I shot up, rushing towards my partner. My mouth quivered with the thumping noises in my chest. "What about Yang? Is she fine?"

"They're fine! Everybody's getting up!" She gave me a small smile. "Whatever you managed to do, it removed the paralysis on everybody! Come on, Ruby!" Weiss waved me in. "Just get in here, you dolt!"

A grin crawled across my face as I felt relief hit me. I ran to the doorframe and took a good look at the commotion inside. All of the students inside were pulling themselves back up! A chorus of moans and groans echoed through the room as the students tried to get their bearings. Sage was pulling up his partner, both looking ragged due to their experience. Despite that, both of them wore relieved smiles on their faces. To my right, Blake kneeled next to my big sister, doing what seems to be a checkup. Everybody's fine from what I can see.

However, I can't say the same for the recreation room after my fight. Trash consisting of half-eaten food and abandoned bottles littered the floor. Several craters warped the walls. It's almost like the room was going to collapse under its own weight. Where the projector used to be was now a bundle of wires sparking about, illuminating the center of the room. But that's not the point. If everyone overlooked the sorry state of the recreation room, it's like nothing ever happened to the students here! My right hand whipped up to my face as I let out an easy sigh. My gods, it's like a miracle! Nobody's hurt after all of this.

My eyes flew over to where the beaten boy laid, and my lips fell. Except for him. I don't remember seeing his face before the second semester. Maybe he's a transfer student from another academy? I felt my heart drop as guilt filled my chest. This guy traveled from one of the kingdoms to participate in the Vytal Festival. Most likely expected it to be lighthearted and a fun-filled adventure. Instead, he finds himself hit by the Arrow, he was given a power that went out of control and hurt a lot of people. He didn't have control of it until the last minutes of our fight. And I had to beat him up to save his victims.

Weiss glanced in the same direction as I did. A gasp escaped her mouth as she drooped her shoulders. "Ruby… What happened to that guy over there? Did he get attacked by the invisible lizard as well?" I lowered my head. She doesn't need to know the truth. Let her believe that the guy was another victim. Let everybody believe that. Besides, Nolan was a victim as well. Just… not to the Stand's abilities.

My hand curled up into a fist. What kind of sick joke was the Arrow creature playing on us? Attacking innocent people and granting them Stand powers, with the cost of giving their loved ones heartache. If learning about the Stands wasn't enough to convince me, this battle cemented the facts. Our Stands are dangerous. In order to prevent this from happening, the Arrow must be destroyed as soon as possible. For the sake of Beacon, to keep the city of Vale safe. For my team's wellbeing, and JNPR's as well. Jaune and I will stop the creature from spreading any more chaos.

"Blake, stop trying to take my clothes off!" I broke my line of sight to Nolan, glancing at the girl who said that. Yang waved her hands at the cat faunus, warding away prying fingers. "Geez, kitten. We might be partners, but don't you think asking for me to take off my top is pushing the boundaries of our friendship? You know, unless you wanna take the next step." She wiggled her eyebrows.

The other girl let out an annoyed groan. "Please Yang, not now." The girl in black slapped away one of Yang's hands, causing the blonde to yelp. "I don't have time for your perverted jokes. I need to make sure that there's nothing else affecting you. No bite marks, no shrapnel, no nothing."

"But Blake! Look at me! I'm moving again, I'm talking again. Hell, there's no blood on me!" She threw her shoulders out, gesturing towards her body. Just as she said, there weren't any visible wounds in sight. She gave her partner a wide smile. "All in all, I think the cold-blooded lizard couldn't… take the heat."

"What kind of statement is—" Blake blinked, running the words through her head. She slapped her forehead, letting out another groan. "Yang, that is pushing the line of comprehensible. That barely made any sense at all!"

"Hey, I'll take that over straight up bad, kitten. It's a big improvement—" Her lilac eyes drifted over to me. Almost immediately, her face became somber. "We can continue this later. Give me a moment, will you Blake?" The brawler nudged her partner to the side, bringing herself up to her full height. I shuttered as she approached me. I don't want to have this talk with Yang. Not so soon after what just happened! I tried to curl away, only to find Weiss clamping down on my shoulders and holding me in place.

"Weiss! What are you doing?" I tried jerking away from my partner. "Let me go!"

"Ruby, I've talked to Blake and Yang after she was freed from the paralysis, and well, you need to set things right with your sister. You two aren't supposed to be fighting against each other!" The heiress gave me a squeeze on the shoulders. "Think about the team. If you don't fix this right now, it's going to affect everybody on team RWBY. We're not going to be a unified team, which means it's likely more accidents like this could happen!" I stood silent, taking her words into consideration.

She continued: "Ruby, think about it. The last thing who want to do is to try and make peace with a sibling who's long gone. You'll always beat yourself over it, wondering why you didn't say anything sooner. For the rest of your days, you'll ask yourself over and over again what you could've done differently. You'll never get over it. I miss my older sister, and she's alive! But if Yang didn't make it here…" My partner let out a sigh. "Just… couldn't you give her a chance?"

Before I could give her an answer, a shadow fell over us. Weiss and I looked over to the source. Yang towered over us, blocking most of the lights coming from the ceiling. The blonde made a coughing noise into her hand. "Hey Weiss, you don't mind if Ruby and I had a talk on our own?" She nodded, stepping away from us. Now it was just us two sisters, standing away from everybody else. "Come on, Ruby. Let's have a seat." She leaned back into the wall and allowed herself to slip down to the ground. I mimicked her movements. We both sat together, looking at the devastated room, not looking at each other.

I swallowed, my throat becoming dry. What do I say to her? I'm not sorry for saying what I said, but she might want me to make an apology or something. I can't just not say nothing! I focused on the exposed wires and the sparks that flew out of them. Come on, think! What can you say? There has to be—

"Ruby, how much do you remember when you were young? Of the days right after your mom's death?" I flinched at that. Why didn't she yell, or be mad, or anything? Why start with that? My left hand crossed over my chest to rub the other arm.

"Not much," I admitted. "I was, what, only six at the time? Dad, I remember him sobbing alone in his room all the time, not willing to open it to anyone. Uncle Qrow had this dull look in his eyes when he came over to watch over us, although that disappeared whenever we came up to him. He was being strong for us, even when he was grieving. As for me… I remember feeling empty as I watched the stone plaque being installed. I remember… dreaming that Mom would surprise us and come back to life, making the family happy again." My eyes glanced at Yang's face. She had her lips pressed, eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you ask?"

"… I see. You know, I have a confession to make." She scooted over towards me, pressing her arm against mine. "The day I learned about how we had separate moms? That was a week or so after everybody learned about Summer's death. One night, as I was getting a glass of water, I overheard Dad yelling with Uncle Qrow. They were talking about both your mom and my mom, and how she's supposed to still be out there somewhere." Yang played with her thumbs.

"When I heard about that, I got excited. I thought if I could find where my mom was, I could bring her back and get her to take care of the family. So, when nobody was watching, I dug through Uncle Qrow's stuff and found a picture of her as well as a photo of an old cabin where the two siblings used to stay in after graduation." She made a sad grin. "I thought I had something. In the morning, I packed some food for a short journey and once Dad left the house, I slipped out, wheeling you behind me in our old wagon." My eyes widened. So that's what happened while I was asleep! That's why I woke up in Qrow's arms in the forest that day!

"It was a lot further than I thought. I thought it would be a ten-minute walk. The place was on the opposite side of Patch, hours away by foot. I ran out of food before the sun was fully up, and I kept getting bruises and scrapes from lugging you through the woods. Long story short, we barely managed to make it to the cabin by around noon. Then we were unlucky enough to have a pack of Beowolves attack us. If Uncle Qrow hadn't come to the rescue, we would've died." She banged the back of her head against the wall as I took her words in. Why would she tell me that?

"The thing is, one lesson I've learned after this was to not let my obsessions destroy me. I've already told Blake about that one. The other thing I learned was how much you meant to me, Ruby. You almost died because of me." She took a long breath. "From then on, I made a promise to keep you safe, no matter what. It's my fault that I put you in danger in the first place. I felt like I needed to make it up."

"… Have you always felt this way, Yang?" I turned my head towards her, meeting her gaze. "Why didn't you let it go?"

"That's what I got from many people when I told them the story." Her voice cracked as she said those words. I can see tears starting to form underneath her eyelids. "'It's been years, Yang.' 'Why don't you try to move past what happened?' 'It's not your fault.' The thing is, despite how inaccurate they were, they're not wrong. Why don't I let the past stay in the past? So I've tried. I did so many things in order to put that part away from sight. The problem is, you don't forget. You try to forgive yourself, but a piece of you always wants to believe it's your fault. No matter what I do, I always remember what happened. Doesn't stop. I don't think it ever will."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess what I'm trying to do is explain myself. For everything I've done recently. Why I act so overprotective. We take it for granted because we're sisters, but I really do love you. I care for you so much. I don't want you to die young, especially after what happened at that cabin. Two weeks ago, when I saw you collapse in the hallway and saw what happened to your leg, my fears came back to haunt me. You were going to leave me, like how your Mom died and how my mom abandoned the family. And when I found out that you were going to be okay? I wanted to keep you safe."

A tear slipped down her cheek. "I'm sorry for being so overbearing, Ruby. I can't help it. Everybody's scared for you, me more than others. I just… I don't want to lose you, too."

I sat there silent. She's sorry for being an older sister to me? My fist clenched even tighter. There's nothing wrong with that! "Yang, I have to apologize, too. For putting you through so much worry. Everybody must've thought I finally lost it when I started talking to Mom. I can't imagine what ran through your mind while I was going through that."

"But Ruby—"

"But nothing." I turned to look at her. "Yang, I love you too. You mean a lot to me, staying at my side when I first went to school, defending me even when I was being weird and awkward around your friends, helping me try to be a person on my own. You've helped me throughout my life, and when I looked like I needed your help the most, I push you away." I looked at my laced fingers. "But I mean it when I say I have to do this alone. A lot of weird things are happening in recent days. I think you deserve to be a little worried—"

She interrupted then. "That reminds me. Changing the topic a little bit, but I think I needed to ask." She turned towards the broken recreation room. "While I was paralyzed, I was still aware of what was going on, and thinking it through, nothing makes any sense. You managed to see some kind of lizard, a big one, judging from the bite marks. No one else can see it. You would think that someone would notice something like that. Then you ran around the room chasing after something, and the whole room went to hell, just breaking apart on its own. That's not including how you can just remove a part of your body. In fact…" Yang lifted my reformed arm and gave it a few tugs. "It's back on like it was never ripped off. What's going on?"

I glanced around. "… Let's not have that conversation here. We're going to need to have a talk later about that. As a team. It's something… bizarre." I pulled myself back up. Fumbling through my pockets, I pulled out the metallic scroll. Aside from a couple of scratches on the metal, it looked intact from my battle with Nolan. I popped the scroll open and hit one of the speed-dial keys. "Give me a moment, Yang. I have to call someone." I held the device up to my hand, listening to the dull beeps as the call tried to connect.

Somebody picked up. "Hello, this is Professor Peach, what seems to be the problem?"

"Hi, there's a student injured outside of the recreation room." I looked at the front door. "Can you send somebody to pick him up?"

* * *

I glanced at the ceiling of the darkened JNPR dorm room. Eleven minutes since our team's lights out. Everybody should be asleep any time now. My heart pounded in my chest as I felt the seconds go by. Every second I'm waiting here was a second Ruby was spending fighting out there. I hope she's still doing okay.

My head turned towards Ren, checking on his status. I could hear his breaths becoming rhythmic in nature. Quiet yet relaxed. That's one person sleeping. I rolled to my other side, glancing across the room at the rest of my team. Ren's partner in comparison was snoring up a storm. Her sloth snuggled with her in her bed, wrapping the tiny girl in gray fur. She muttered something to herself as she wrapped her arms around the plushie, squeezing with all of her might. Two asleep. My eyes drifted to my partner. Pyrrha was curled up into a ball, her untied red hair falling over her face. Strands of them moved with her every breath, just out of reach of her mouth. Even looking like a mess she's still graceful when she's resting.

Looks like everybody's asleep. I counted a couple of more seconds in my head, just to be sure before pulling the blanket off. I brushed the front of my jeans off as I slipped out of bed, glancing around the room for any movements. Nobody reacted. Whew, that's a good sign. Now that I'm confident that all of them were asleep, I threw on my hoodie and slipped out the room, closing the door so that it wouldn't make too loud of a click.

I took a couple of strides before breaking out into a run. My mind raced as I thought through all of the facts and details. Twenty minutes. It took twenty minutes until I could slip out from my room. If there was a battle between Stand users, then it would've ended a long time ago. I prayed that it wasn't too late for Ruby. That boy we passed by looked wounded, but we can't take any chances. Whatever his Stand ability is, we can't risk having it go out of control in public. If he even has a Stand in the first place. We can't let Stand users hurt other people.

I burst through the front door, feeling the chill of the night air hit me. A shiver ran down my back. My breath fogged in front of me as I ran southwest towards the Beacon statue. He was bleeding last time, right? I should be able to track him using his dried blood. If he looked that bad, there's no way that he wouldn't leave some kind of trail behind.

Before I knew it, I saw the head of the stone statue approach. I slowed down my pace, stopping in front of the famous monument. Okay, so if I remember correctly, the guy made his way towards the left pathway. Left where we came in, of course. I took a couple of paces in that direction, staring at the ground. That means that there has to be a mark somewhere… there! A trail of blood streaks formed a dotted line on the left side of the street, each mark within a couple of meters away from each other. Each smudge got closer to each other further as they went up the street. Alright, now we're talking!

As I followed the blood trail, the sounds of people talking reached my ears. The voices sounded hush, like barely contained panic. Like somebody's reaction during the aftermath of a traumatizing event. A pang of fear rushed down my spine. Am I too late? Is Ruby…? I broke into a sprint, running towards the noises. Oh please by gods keep Ruby alive!

I rounded the corner to see several people standing outside of the rec center. Roughly five or so people in lab coats went through the group, checking on them and the like. What happened here? Everybody's acting like a massacre happened, yet nobody's hurt! But the fear on everybody's faces… Despite the lack of injuries, it's clear that something terrible happened here.

Movement from the side caught my attention. I glanced over in that direction before letting out a gasp. Two medics were placing someone on a stretcher. I can't tell who due to a crowd forming in front of the medical officers, blocking my view of the wounded. With that, I surged through the crowd, gaining shouts of annoyance sent towards me. But I didn't care. I had to know one thing, and one thing only. Who will I find lying on that stretcher? Will it be that boy I met earlier? Or will it be Ruby?

The two medics lifted the stretcher up just as I broke through the crowd. An oxygen mask was strapped over a bloody, well-defined face. I stood in silence as the stranger I passed by earlier was being lifted away from the area. All at once, I relaxed. So Ruby won. I let out a sigh of relief and a chuckle. That's good. No, that's more than good! She managed to defeat him before any serious damage could be done.

A thought hit me as I let my muscles relax. Wait, if she managed to win the fight, where is she right now? I didn't see her in the crowd. My head swiveled back, checking again. Yeah, she's not here. Where could she be? Am I just not looking hard enough? I wandered through the crowd for a little while, looking around for any signs of Ruby.

I found her next to the Head Nurse, off to the side of the building. Professor Peach had her eyebrows raised as she interviewed my fellow Stand user. "—And you're saying that some kind of unknown force caused all of the damage within the recreation room? And that the same unknown force broke through everyone's Aura and hurt that boy to critical levels?" Ruby nodded, giving me a small wave when she spotted me. I waved back.

The nurse pinched the sides of her nose, letting out a sound of frustration. "Ms. Rose, that sounds impossible. Are you sure that's what happened in there? Not any kind of fight between students or the crowd ganging up against that one kid? It was actually some kind of invisible force?"

The young leader shook her head. "No, Professor. Everybody else can back my word up. As silly as it sounds, no one knows what went on in the rec room. It was crazy, like in a horror movie or something! There's no other way I can explain it!"

Peach gave her a wary look. "… We've been getting that from everybody else," she muttered, typing something up in her scroll. "Mysterious attacks from unseeable locations. It's either an unknown type of Grimm or a paranormal event. Knowing Occam's razor, it's probably the former. That's a major reason for concern. Might need to go to Ozpin and discuss this." The dark-skinned teacher looked back at Ruby. "Thank you for your input on the situation, Ms. Rose. I'll take your testament into consideration. Now, if Glynda would finish up with repairing the room."

"I already have for some time now." My skin crawled as a familiar strict voice came from behind me. I looked back to see the combat professor standing with her arms crossed. One corner of her lips was turned upwards, sending another shiver down my body. When was the last time I saw Goodwitch smile? Especially after something like this? She stepped past me, approaching her fellow peer. "All of the structural damage has been repaired. The projector's past saving, though. Even if I put it back together again, the electronic parts are beyond saving. We're going to need to replace that. Didn't bother touching all of the spilled food. We have janitors for that."

Now it was Peach's turn to smile. "Oh really, Glynda? I thought you couldn't stand any kind of mess whatsoever. You were quite peeved after that food fight early in the year."

"And I got the children to clean it up." Glynda adjusted her glasses as she stopped in front of the other two women. "Just because I have telekinesis doesn't mean that I have to clean every single mess everyone makes."

The nurse giggled, putting her scroll away. "Some disciplinary officer you are! Cracking the whip and letting the lackeys do all the work for you!"

"Only where it matters, Peach." Professor Goodwitch glanced at a watch on her wrist. "I think it's about time we head back and look through all of the testimonies." She turned towards the rest of the students, a familiar scowl back in place on her face. "Children." Everybody stopped their conversation, turning to look at the blond giant. "Go back to your dorms and get some rest. We'll look into what happened here. It would be best if this situation isn't mentioned within the school until an investigation is formally concluded." Her face softened for just a second. "Tomorrow, do not hesitate to come to Peach's office if something's wrong. We're here for you if you need to talk about this. Good night, everyone."

With those final words, the two amazonian women made their exit. The crowd started to disperse at her words, all heading back in the direction I came from. An entire room was damaged? I mean, the food fight trashed the cafeteria up pretty well, but it didn't straight up destroy the building. Just how bad was that fight? I made my way over to Ruby, whose gaze was focused on the wounded boy.

"Ruby, are you okay?" A yip escaped from her mouth as she jumped. She snapped away to look at me.

"Oh, hi Jaune! Yeah, I'm fine." Her face turned downcast. "That boy in the stretcher, Nolan. He's a Stand user. His Stand went out of control, hurting everybody inside the building. But he didn't do it out of malice. Nolan, he's a victim of the Arrow, just like me." She grasped her shaking right hand, sniffling as she continued on. "But everybody got hurt due to his Stand. I had no choice, I had to—"

I held my hand up, stopping her. "I get it, Ruby. You don't have to say it. As far as I care, you did the right thing."

"That's the problem. What I did was the best option, but Nolan had to get hurt because of that." She looked up at me. "He didn't deserve what I did to him, Jaune. He's just a boy who didn't ask for the Stand life, but got it anyways. Just like me." Her silver eyes brightened up, burning with passion. "We have to stop that Grimm now. Not just for the safety of the people of Vale. No, we're also making sure nobody else has to live this life. No one deserves to suffer just because they got hit with the Arrow." I nodded in agreement.

"Oh, hey Jaune! I didn't expect you to be here!" I jerked my head towards the voice. The rest of team RWBY stood right outside of the rec center. I felt a bead of sweat run down my forehead. A meep escaped Ruby's mouth. Did they overhear us about the Stands? Yang had a big grin on her face, but her eyes looked puffy, like she did some crying. She combed a lock back. "What are you doing here?" Whew. Okay, so they don't know after all. Blake's bow twitched.

"Uh, I got a text from one of the guys here. They wanted me to come over for a movie?" That was a blatant lie, as the rest of the girls regarded me with suspicion.

"Yeah, right," Weiss scoffed. "Wouldn't you be here by the time the attack if you were telling the truth? And wouldn't you bring team JNPR with you?"

"Well, I have a perfectly good explanation for that!" My former crush's eyebrows raised up in expectation. "Uhh…" I racked my brain for any kind of excuse. Come on, there has to be— Aha! "I was out in Vale for the day, and I only got the invitation right before I entered the airbus! Yeah! And the rest of team JNPR was tired and everything, so I went back to my dorm, dropped them off along with my stuff, and then made my way here!"

The heiress gave me one more look and then sighed. "Well, you got lucky then. You just managed to miss one of the most mysterious things that I've ever seen. It started out with everybody falling down paralyzed, with bite marks forming on top of their Aura. Then Ruby goes off and claims that we were being attacked by a giant lizard! And when it couldn't get weirder, Ruby ripped off her—"

"Okay, Weiss, that's enough!" I cried out, waving my arms at her. "Don't need to go into that much detail! I think I get the point."

The heiress let out a hmph. "Well then. That got me thinking. Ruby, how did you notice that such a creature even existed?" The scythe user froze as the rest of her team looked at her, the question forming on their faces.

Blake let out a hum. "Now that I think of it, that is a little strange. The whole entire time, you knew exactly what was coming after us, and where, too. And then there's the issue of the rose petals. I've never seen your Semblance act like that before." Yang raised one of her eyebrows as she let out a hum of her own.

"I've been helping Ruby train with her Semblance back when she was young. It was super speed, without a doubt. I'm sure breaking down your eyeball into rose petals isn't moving real fast." The elder blonde glared into her sister's eyes. "I think it's about time we returned to what we were originally talking about. Do you have anything to say to us?"

"Uhh…" Ruby looked frantic, glancing at every one of her teammates as she backed away. "… I have magical powers that bend reality as we know it? I don't know, what do you want me to say?" She made a small eep as her back was pressed against the steel wall. The rest of her team surrounded her.

Weiss gave her partner a sad look. "How about the truth?" I swallowed a bit of my saliva as I watched Ruby's team approach her. The heiress placed a hand on her leader. "Ruby, this is something we deserve to know. If this affects us, you can't expect us to not try to do anything." Ruby started scrunching up, eyes signaling to me for advice. I gave her a shrug. What was Ruby going to say? Was she going to lie or tell the truth? At this point, either option's going to dig us into a deeper hole.

"Guys," she started, fidgeting with her fingers. Ruby looked up at each of them. "I wish I can give you a better answer, but I don't know. I'm trying to figure that out myself. It's impossible to explain, because they're no way to show you guys the truth. I just don't know how to deal with this." The girl let out a sigh.

"But why don't you come to us for help?" Yang asked, stepping towards her sister. "We're your teammates. I'm your sister. Our job is to stick to each other, no matter what happens. Team RWBY would do everything to help you, Ruby."

"And that's what I'm afraid of." Ruby rubbed the side of her arm. "This stuff's dangerous. More dangerous than the fiercest Grimm, the White Fang, and all of those threats. This stuff is beyond anyone's understanding, and I don't want to get anyone hurt due to this."

Yang started sniffling. "Is that how you feel, little sis?" She pulled the girl into a hug. "You know how I feel about you. The same applies to Weiss and Blake. Come on, Ruby. At least don't push us away. Maybe nobody else can understand what happened in there, but that doesn't mean Team RWBY isn't going to try. We'll figure this out together. As a team."

The young leader made a smile as she rested her chin on Yang's shoulders. "Thank you. For understanding." She let go of the buxom blonde and let out a yawn. "Oh man, I think it's getting late. I think we should be getting to bed. What do you guys think?" Everybody nodded at the suggestion. "Oh! Jaune, shouldn't you be checking on your team?" I felt Team RWBY's eyes be directed towards me. Ruby pulled out her scroll, typed something into it, and closed it. She waved her device in front of her face. "I think they should know about how you're coming back early."

I felt a rumble in the pocket containing my scroll. "Yeah, I should do that." I pulled the electronic out and popped it open. "Might run into some Nora shenanigans if I don't warn them in advance." On the lock screen, there was one message from Ruby: "Meet me in the hllwy 7:00 mrnng. Need 2 tlk 2 Nolan." What is she planning? Everybody turned around to head back. Blake stared at me and Ruby, eyes narrowing, before following her teammates. And with that, Team RWBY and I made our way back home.

* * *

Early next morning I found myself outside my dorm. Rose floated around me as I let out a tired yawn. My eyes looked out into the hallway, paying attention to nothing in particular. It's way too early in the morning to be doing this! And on a Sunday, too. There's nothing more I wanted to do than go back to bed, crawl under the bedsheets, and sleep until ten. The rest of the girls were doing just that.

I tried a couple of light smacks to the cheek. It helped a little with the drowsiness. But I can't worry about sleep right now! This was an opportunity! We might finally have a lead on the creature with the Arrow! If it attacked Nolan, then we should be able to figure out where it is right now and stop it from creating more Stand users.

My eyes glanced back to my room door. I wished I didn't have to lie to them about what's going on. More than anything else, I wanted to tell them the truth about the Stands. But I didn't lie when I said that I didn't understand a thing. This was too dangerous for them right now, at least knowing what I know right now. Maybe once Jaune and I take the Arrow away. I might tell them about Rose then. But no sooner than that.

The sounds of creaking caught my attention. A familiar dorky blonde peeked out from his room. Dark bags sat underneath his eyes, and he looked like he's been kept awake by a Griffin. But his eyes looked as focused as ever. He gave me a little wave before yawning. "Hey, Ruby. Good morning."

I waved back. "Hey, Jaune! How's everything?"

"Good. Good." He nodded his head, glancing at me before frowning. "Wait a minute… weren't you wearing that outfit yesterday? Wasn't that ripped up and destroyed?"

"What? Oh, this." I pulled on the fabric. "I have multiple copies of these. Back when I was first getting used to my Semblance, I tended to crash a lot and get my clothing caught on a ton of stuff. So my Dad decided to just buy clothing in bulk so that I could easily have a replacement. It's a stupid habit that I kept up even after I got better at using my Semblance, but I guess it's helpful now."

Jaune raised his eyebrows in interest. "Having several disposable clothes? That's useful." He pulled the sleeve of his hoodie. "I wonder how many Box-Tops I can save until I get another hoodie? Knowing us, this is probably going to get ripped in one of these Stand fights."

I bit my lip. "You… get your hoodies using cereal boxes?" It took all of my willpower to not burst into laughter. "Jaune, you know you can just send them dimensions of your clothing and have them fabricate a ton of them?"

"It's different! This was a cool, limited edition hoodie! It doesn't feel right to just replicate them!"

A small giggle escaped my mouth. "What could possibly be on that hoodie that makes it so priceless?"

The blonde boy stood silent, staring at me for a couple of seconds. "Can we save this conversation for another time? Not the right time to talk about it."

"Hmph! Fine…" I waved off the question. "I'll stop talking about the hoodie. But anyways, ready to give Nolan a little visit?"

He nodded, pulling the door wide open. "Now more than ever." The boy walked by our side as we made our way out in silence.

It wasn't until we left the building when Jaune started speaking again. "So Ruby, what are you trying to get from this Nolan dude, and why? You didn't really explain a lot in that text you send me."

"Hopefully, the place where he got hit by the Arrow," I answered, turning my head towards him. "And to answer your other question, when we were fighting, he didn't know about the existence of the Stands until I told him about **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** and what it did to everybody in the rec room. Jaune, he's not evil. He's just a Huntsmen-in-Training who traveled to Beacon to compete. Nothing more, nothing less. I could see it in his eyes. He didn't want to hurt anyone; that's just what his Stand did anyways."

"You know, even if that's true, I don't think he's going to react well if you come into his room. After all, you did beat him up."

I felt my face droop. "Yeah, I did." I perked up. "That's why I'm letting you go in first!"

He flinched. "What?"

"Come on, Jaune! You don't have any kind of bad reputation with Nolan! If you go in first, then he'll be more relaxed when I come in! Plus, you can calm him down if he overreacts or something!"

The blonde leader gave me a weird stare. "Are you sure about that, Ruby? I mean, it makes sense on paper, but I don't think that me going in first wouldn't help much when you, the girl who assaulted him, walks in afterward asking for information. I mean, what are we going to say to him? He's not going to just tell us once he sees you."

A hum escaped my mouth as I considered Jaune's question. I rubbed the base of my chin. He does have a point. How would I convince the wounded boy? Is anything I'm going to say change Nolan's mind? A random thought appeared in my mind. Wasn't there supposed to be something in my left— Oh, I forgot my scroll in my team's room. Dang. That sucks. I let out a shrug. Oh well.

We took a turn around the statue, heading back to where I fought **「** **BELFRY FALLS.** **」** I shuttered at the sight. The morning sunlight highlighted the splotches of blood that covered the road. Several cleaning robots whirred as they went around the tiled street, scrubbing the last of the crimson fluid. Sitting in front of the front of the rec room was a staff member dressed in gray. He let out a soft snore as the bots did his work. All of this blood… this wouldn't have happened if Nolan wasn't hit by the Arrow.

I let out a cough, gaining the boy's attention. "We'll just tell him the truth. I mean, he's a Stand user, after all." I held up a hand towards Jaune in a shrug. "There's no way he's going to be escaping from this kind of life, so it's better if we came clean. It might help him control his Stand better so that something like this wouldn't happen again."

"You think that's going to be enough?"

"I hope so." Another shiver ran down my spine. It felt like something, or someone was staring at us. I turned my head behind me. Nobody except for the sleeping janitor and the leader of Team JNPR. "Hey, Jaune? Do you feel as if somebody's following us?"

"Wait, really?" He mimicked my action before shrugging. "I don't see anybody except for that guy over there. Are you sure somebody's following us?" I nodded my head.

"There's something in the air right now that just doesn't feel right." I scratched my head in confusion. "Maybe that fight last night is getting to me, but I don't want to have another repeat of that."

Jaune nodded. "I think it's just you. Still, if you really feel that way, we can pick up the pace."

Before we knew it, we arrived in front of the infirmary. Glowing right above the front door was a giant neon red cross. There was a reception desk in the center of the room where a bored nurse sat. On the other side of the room was a set of swinging doors. It most likely leads to the patient rooms. In the waiting room, there sat two guys and a girl sitting in the chairs, whispering to each other.

"Geez, this is just classic Nolan!" I glanced at the group. A guy wearing a purple scarf groaned as he threw himself back into his seat. "We shouldn't have let him go out alone. So irresponsible. I can't believe that I trusted him not to get into any trouble!"

"Look, Branz, you have to lay off on him." Another boy in dreadlocks leaned towards the complaining boy. "You heard what the Beacon headmaster said. He had less than a hundredth of a percent of alcohol in his body. He wasn't drunk by any means. Nolan's just a victim of that mysterious Grimm attack as he came back." I raised my eyebrows at that. A Grimm attack? What was the Headmaster doing?

Branz slapped a palm to his forehead. "That doesn't change the fact that he happened to be alone when he got attacked! I don't even care about the fact he went drinking again, or whether the attacker's a Grimm or a human! What matters is that he got beat up enough to stain the top of his shirt red!" The girl in the beanie said nothing, instead looking at the door that leads to the patient's room. The scarf wearing boy leaned towards the dreadlocked kid. "Look, Roy. I don't want anybody to get hurt, especially in a foreign kingdom. Nolan's way more rational than any of us. You would think that would make him more street smart if not responsible. I guess not."

"Hey, guys?" Everybody turned towards the beanie girl. "Why is it taking so long to schedule our visit? I mean, we're right here." The purple clad boy sighed.

"I have no idea." The boy in the purple scarf ran his fingers down his face, letting out a groan of frustration. "Probably some stupid visiting time schedule. Come on, we'll ask the front desk again."

"Jaune, here's our chance," I hissed. "As they distract the front desk, we'll slip into the patient rooms."

"And how are we going to do that?" Rose appeared behind me. Jaune let out a sigh. "Okay. Never mind my last question."

My vision darkened as I broke up into rose petals. Everything became a lot more muted, the colors fading away as I drifted towards the door. The only thing I can see is a faded outline of everything in the room. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've actually turned my whole entire body into flower petals willingly, not as a distraction or anything. If I had a mouth, I would've let out a meep of joy. This is pretty weird but so cool and interesting at the same time! I can see everything at the same time!

The thought of what I could do started to hurt my brain. But I don't have a brain anymore, do I? I'm just a pile of rose petals. How am I thinking in the first place? I know certain petals correlate to different body parts, but are brain petals still part of my brain? Is it possible for brain petals and arm petals to— ow. My brain hurts thinking about it. That's enough thinking for now. I felt parts of me pass under the cracks of the door before reforming into their original body parts. Before I knew it, color returned to my vision as I found myself standing on the other side of the door.

Without any hesitation, I nudged the door open, inviting the surprised Jaune to come inside. "Don't think about it," I whispered. "Just get in."

He nodded, looking both ways before following me inside. I brought the door to a gentle close, brushing my hands. "Now that that's done, don't we have an interview with a certain boy?" Jaune grinned, not saying a single word. "I'll take that as a yes." I looked behind me to see a hallway with ten or so doors on each side. "... Do you think they label these rooms by patient names, or do we have to knock and check each one?"

"I think they label them based on patient names." He pointed his thumb at the door next to us. There were lights inside. Right beside the doorknob is a plaque with one of those replaceable name tags with the name "Nolan Porfirio" on it.

"Well, that was easy." My shoulders drooped. "I was hoping it was going to be more epic. You know, us two sneaking through a hospital and avoiding all of the nurses."

"Yeah," Jaune sighed. "Me too. Oh well." He walked over to the door and raised his fist up, before dropping it. "Do you think I should knock, or…?" I gave him a look of disbelief. "Barge right in. Got it. Just wait here." With that he slipped into the room, leaving me outside and alone in the hallway.

"Hello?" His voice was muffled from behind the door. "Are you Nolan?" I heard a mutter of agreement. "I'm Jaune. Remember me? We met yesterday…" There were muffled sounds, probably coming from Nolan. "Sorry for coming in like this… no, your teammates are still outside. They're okay. I'm here because of what happened… yeah, you must be confused as well. I don't know everything either, but I'll try to explain as much as I can. But first, I need to bring in someone else." I heard knocking on the door. "Ruby! Come in!" My chest rose as I sucked air in. Here goes nothing.

I walked through the door to meet a sterile white room. The empty chemical smell of antiseptics was one of the first things that hit me. It caused me to cringe a little bit. Ugh. Wow, that smells bad. Looking around the room there was little else aside from some machines hooked up to a display showing Aura levels and other biometric readings. And sitting in the bed was the boy I fought against just yesterday.

Nolan's eyes widened at the sight of me. He jerked his body back, pressing himself against the mattress. "What? Jaune, what is this? Why did you bring her in here? She's the one who beat me up with that ghost woman!" My friend didn't say anything, closing the door behind us and clicking the lock into place. That didn't do a lot to calm him down. I coughed into my hand as I approached Nolan.

"And I'm really, really sorry about that." My eyes flickered down to the floor. "What I did… It was probably an overreaction."

"No kidding! You punched me in the nose so many times!" He pointed to the little bandage strip on his nose. "I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know how to control this… Stand!"

"I realized that. However, I couldn't take any chances. We don't know too much about the Stands or how they work in the first place. The last thing I want is dead people on my hands. I'm sure you don't want any as well." I looked up at him, giving the resting boy a small smile. "If it's any comfort, I don't have any hard feelings against you. So how about we introduce each other again in a more comfortable setting?"

His teeth bit his lower lip, brow furrowing as he thought about my offer. "… I guess we can try having a do-over." The boy pointed his finger at me. "But you owe me a favor. Something I can cash in at any time. That cool?" I nodded my head. He held his hand out in response. "That being said, I'm Nolan Porfirio. I'm the N in Team BRNZ, from Shade Academy. I like to think I'm a lover of fun and action."

I took his offer and shook his hand. "And I'm Ruby Rose, weapons geek, and leader of Team RWBY." I gave him a smile. "You know, something tells me you would get along with my sister. She's also an adrenaline junkie." I released my grip on him. "Well, I guess now's better than never. I need to ask you a couple of questions. It's something that's important to discover the creature who has been creating Stand users."

Nolan raised his eyebrows. "What? I mean, I think I can help you with everything, but you're going to need to explain some stuff to me. What 'creature' are we talking about?"

"Hmm… This is going to take awhile to explain. I think it's best to have a Stand answer it as well." I summoned Rose behind me, causing him to wince somewhat. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Rose is just here to help me fill any gaps in my knowledge. Here's what we know about the Stands."

⇐ **TO BE CONTINUED= June 9, 2017**


	12. Slave For You

Nolan took in a sharp breath as I finished up my explanation. My Stand Rose floated around me, keeping her arms crossed. Her white cape occasionally wrapped around my body as she did so. It took all of the control with my body to not brush it away from my body or rub it. I wanted to so bad. For something that isn't supposed to be real, it felt so much like an actual cape. Sometimes Stands work in the most mysterious ways. Not that I'm complaining. It's kinda nice to feel Mom's cape wrap around my body.

To my side, Jaune leaned on a wall, tapping his foot on the ground. Occasionally we would pull up his scroll and look through something, but otherwise he didn't say anything. The entire room was silent after I finished my explanation aside from the light tapping Jaune was making.

With an exhale, the resting boy pulled himself up to a sitting position. Nolan rubbed his eyes, forehead crinkling in thought. "Okay… it's really weird hearing this explanation. A lot of it felt like gibberish to me. So let me get this straight. The best explanation of the Stands is that it's a manifestation of your soul, kinda like Aura if it took on a physical form?" I nodded. He continued: "If that's true, then why did I get hurt when you attacked **「** **BELFRY FALLS?** **」** "

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nobody really knows for sure. There is one idea that Jaune and I accepted. We think that Aura is removed from the body in order to form the Stand if we go with the idea that a Stand is the physical form of Aura. However, it leaves your body completely unprotected. That's why you got hurt while your Stand was out. Your Aura didn't go away, it went over to your Stand. After you were beaten, your Stand disappeared. Your Aura must've returned to your body and healed up as much of your wounds as possible after you reached a critical point."

"… That doesn't sound like a bad theory. After all, most of my injuries were healed after I lost consciousness. Although it didn't really fix my nose." He wrinkled the crooked body part, displeasure clearly seen on his face. A pang of sadness ran through me as he gingerly touched his nose. "It's still a bit lopsided after what you did to me."

"Eh, I mean it won't be that bad. Professor Peach will probably fix it," I shrugged. Should I say anything else about what happened? No. I shook my head. Now's not the time to feel sorry for what I've done. We have a Grimm baby to chase after!

"But let's not worry about that though. Back to the topic at hand. Generally, Stand users are created by the Arrow. Except for Jaune, but again, this is new for us as well. Granted, we all collectively know three users, so there's not a lot to work on in the first place. Which brings us to why Jaune and I are visiting you." I leaned towards him. "We need you to tell us about what you did yesterday and where. Since your powers were only manifested on Saturday, then you must've come into contact with it on that same day. If we knew what you did that day, we might have an idea of where to look."

"Hmm…" Nolan scratched the back of his head. A look of guilt washed over his face before disappearing. "Every bone in my body wants to say no. The last thing I want to do is to be dragged into some kind of mess… I've always been passive when it comes to doing stuff. Trouble is my worst enemy. But after you confronted me over what Belfry has done…"

He glanced up. "You do have a point. I didn't even know I had powers, and all of those people within the recreation room had the scare of their life. If this is the damage a person like me can cause, what's going to happen if somebody evil gets it? If I act, I'm going to get into some kind of trouble. But if I don't act, I'm going to get in even more trouble, one I might not get out of!" He sighed. "It's a really hard choice, um… Ruby, right?" I nodded. "I wish I didn't have to worry about this in the first place."

"You don't have to help us in searching," I responded, resting my hands on the right-hand side of his bed. "Keep living your life the way you want to. Just… don't let your Stand get out of control and don't tell anybody about their existence. That's all you have to do. We'll take care of the rest."

"That's it? If that's all I have to do, then I think I can tell. Okay, well…" The boy tapped the base of his chin. "Let's see. I left for Vale early in the morning since I had a friend who had this nice flat downtown. We hung out for a while before going to this boat party with a couple of the locals, on the riverside I think. I had fun, enjoyed being at the party. Then as we left to go to a proper club, I scratched myself on—"

He stopped, furrowing his brows again. That got my attention. "Then, I thought I scraped myself against a broken shard of glass, but now that I think about it, it was more… metallic rather than glass. It might very well be the Arrow you guys were talking about. Huh. I thought it was weird that there was glass on the loading ramp. But anyways, I got a headache half an hour later and left the rest of my group to come back home early. And I guess you guys know the rest of the story."

"Really? I think we might have something here!" Jaune pushed himself off of the wall and moved over to Nolan's bed. "Where was that? Where you cut yourself, I mean."

"It was some warehouse dock. Maybe it was the one that appeared in the news some time ago, you know, the one where a bunch of Beacon students busted a Dust trafficking ring during the semester break?" I stayed silent about my part in that raid, nodding. He doesn't need to know about Team RWBY's adventures. "I think it was that one. It still had these giant scorch marks that nobody bothered to clean." Yep. I think I know which one he's talking about.

I nodded to the boy. "Thanks, Nolan," I whispered, leaning away from him. "This could be the lead we need to find the Arrow." I turned over to the blonde boy across from me and nodded towards the door. "Jaune, let's go. We need to make sure that every second isn't wasted. If we hurry, we might be able to still find it there!"

The leader of JNPR nodded in response, unlocking the door and cracking it open as he peered out into the hallway. Within a split second, he slammed it shut again, causing me to jump. In a panic, he fumbled for the locking mechanism and slid it back into place. Jaune slammed his back against the door as he took some deep breaths. "Okay, big problem. One, Nolan's team is coming in right now. Two, they saw the door open and close. Three, they're probably going to be pissed that we snuck in here."

As if on cue, we heard the sounds of footsteps before a set of banging noises slammed against the door. "Nolan?" It sounded like the angry scarf dude. Oh man, I don't want to be around that guy. "What the hell, man? Why did you lock the door on us? And are you trying to slip out of the nurse's office? Open this door!" My heart dropped. That's not good. If we don't do anything quickly, we're going to get caught red-handed.

My eyes flickered around the room, landing on the window to the right of the resting boy. I dashed over to it, my hands running through the plastic edges. Panic started to climb up my throat. "Come on, there's got to be a place to open the window!" The jingling sound of keys registered in my mind. We're going to get caught! Come on, where is it?

A cold plastic lever brushed against the tips of my finger. Wait, could it be…? My fingers gripped what felt to be a handle. The feeling of relief shot through me. "Aha!" I yanked on it, bringing the glass up all the way. "Yes! I think we can make it out of here! Okay, there's one of those bug screen things, but that's okay. I can put it back on after I jump." My body leaned forwards, ready for the jump. "Opening is going to be a tight fit for you, Jaune. See you on the other side!"

"Wait, Ruby—"

I took off, tucking myself into a dive as I crashed into the meshed covering. It flew off with an audible pop, landing on the ground with a firm thud. I followed it a split second later, crashing into the ground and disturbing the dust. A cough escaped my mouth as debris entered my mouth. After a couple of rolls, I slipped back up to my feet, wrapping my fingers around the mesh as I reoriented myself.

"Now, Jaune!" Within moments, he barreled out of the window, collapsing to the ground with a groan. He pushed himself up onto his back, letting out a wheezing sound. I zipped towards the opening, leaped over the downed boy, slammed the bug screen back on, and dashed towards him. "Come on, we got to go!" I yelled as I jerked him back up to his feet. Jaune let out a yelp as I pulled him away from the window pushed him against a wall, just in time for the door to burst open with an audible bang.

"Nolan!" The voice sounded young and angry. Maybe it might be his leader? "What is the meaning of this?"

"Look, there's a perfectly good explanation for all of this," Nolan replied, tone a bit surprised.

"No! There are no excuses for you! Have you even considered—"

I elbowed Jaune in the ribs. "I think they're distracted. We should sneak away while we still can. After all, we got an airship to catch." A flicker of a shadow caught my attention yet again. My eyes flew up, trying to find our tail, only to find that they're gone again. "And we should do it soon. I think somebody's trying to follow us. For real this time."

He nodded. "Lead the way then."

* * *

I let out a gentle yawn as I sat in front of the coffee machine. The smell of ground coffee filled my office, creating this calming effect that always manages to sooth my mind. With a light hiss, the machine started shooting out the black ambrosia into a transparent container. A light steam escaped from the top of the container as it was filled up to its max capacity. A quiet yet sharp beep came from the machine, indicating how it finished its task.

With that, I snatched the container and poured the coffee into my mug. One sip brightened the room up. It felt like my bright green office gained even more contrast than right now. My personal blend had a crisp, sharp flavor that never ceased to amaze me. It's like magic, watching the room brighten up with the single sip of a freshly brewed drink. I felt myself slip away from the embrace of sleep and brought to the land of the living. A satisfied sigh escaped my mouth. It couldn't get better than this.

Now that I have my first cup of the day, I made my way back to my desk, seating myself in the futuristic chair. With a couple of taps, a hologram popped up on my desk, revealing camera footage, self-written notes, emails, and other bureaucratic tasks to deal with. With a lazy hand, I flicked through a couple of the tasks. Check and approve the proposed budget for the next school year. Track ongoing missions for Huntsmen in the field. Negotiate with the council to grant the Amity Colosseum entrance into Valean airspace. A quirk within Vale's law. No other Kingdom considers the Amity Colosseum an airship. Makes my job a lot harder than necessary.

My hand went up to my face to adjust my glasses. This is a lot of work, especially considering how the Vytal Festival is officially starting within the month. Three weeks if I remember correctly. So many things to do, so little time to get them done. And on a weekend, too. It's a temporary annoyance at best, but there's nothing more I want to do than to enjoy a relaxing Sunday to brush up on my skills. I have a feeling they're going to be needed again.

I tapped on the hologram, bringing up the camera footage. Considering how early it is in the morning, there shouldn't be anybody running around campus.

"Ruby! Seriously, let me go! I'm getting sick running at the speed of sound!" Or maybe not. My eyes flew over to the display that was playing the audio. I watched the blonde leader grovel and moan as he's being transported my Ms. Rose. They're making their way past the Dawning Hero Statue and down the main entranceway. My eyebrows raised up in curiosity. Why would they come that far? There's nothing there except for the air docks. A realization hit me as I took another sip from my mug. I grimaced.

It looks like they found something about our uninvited guest. A clue to trace down the origin of all of our problems. Whatever the clue is, it's within the city of Vale. I opened another screen, this time having it display a live feed of the patients. The foreign student found himself surrounded by his teammates, taking a heavy amount of questioning. My eyes softened at the sight. Poor boy. He shouldn't be part of this secret world of Stands. Then again, Ms. Rose and Mr. Arc shouldn't be worried about this, either. But here they are, chasing after the Arrow.

I leaned back into my chair and let out a frustrated sigh. She's planning something, and something big. Does this have to do something with the reports I've been getting from the other Huntsmen? This can't just be a coincidence. The White Fang's growing and becoming more radical. Thefts in the city rob the average citizen of Dust. And the intel coming from Qrow points to a potential attack incoming. The Queen's trying to get the population to panic.

But what's the point? She's not going to raze Vale to the ground. That would be counterintuitive to her old dream, her goal before all of this. The Queen has to be within the city in order to achieve it. I made sure she's not escaping into Remnant anytime soon. Especially since the only person who could help her has been dead for years. There are only two reasons she could be doing this right now. One, she gave up on her new world, finally losing herself to her Grimm side. That in itself would be a big concern. She used to be a determined woman; it would be ironic if she lost her way after all these years. The other reason is if she figured out how to leave her prison. And the person she's looking for is somewhere in Vale right now.

If it's the latter, then that makes it even more important that we get the Arrow. One Stand user: that's all she needs to get out. If it wasn't for the fact that I have to deal with all of this business with the Vytal Festival, I would be hunting the Arrow down right now. But unfortunately, I'm stuck here. And for every second we fail to find the Arrow, it's an extra second she has to find the key out of her prison. … As much as I don't want the students to get into this situation, I might need to call up Mr. Arc and Ms. Rose and tell them about the issue. They have the freedom and the time to go where I cannot.

A dinging sound distracted me from my thoughts. I looked up. The elevator door popped open, revealing a familiar blonde adjusting his glasses. "Ozpin?" Glynda didn't sound so pleased with me. Her eyes glared at me, sending shivers down my back.

I let out a sigh. "Come in." She nodded, striding into the room with the care of a surgeon. "If you wanted to brief me on the appointment with the Council, I will get around to having the talk with them. Believe me when I say—"

"That's not why I'm here. It's about the incident yesterday." My eyes blinked. I feared that that was the case. "Ozpin, this is a serious case that we're dealing with. More than twenty people were traumatized by whatever happened in there. Not a single professor can find a cause of the incident after analyzing the footage. A foreign student was sent to Peach's with injuries. And you're ordering us to sweep it under the rug?"

"Yes." I tilted my head to the side. "I don't see why this is an issue."

"… Is that supposed to be a joke?" the combat professor growled as she stepped forwards. "This is big, Ozpin! There's so much potential for damage! The footage of the events is there, and we can't ignore it. I watched with my own eyes people getting bit by an invisible figure! Ms. Rose, the student you personally invited to Beacon, lost her arm, eye, and head chasing after said invisible figure! Any person would be dead after what she sustained, but it's like nothing happened to her. These students are haunted by what happened yesterday! Why bother trying to hide this, especially after you made your stance clear about how the students should be treated back during their food fight?"

I coughed into my hand. "Do you know why we hide the truth about fairy tales? It's so that no one—"

"—So that no one will panic," Glynda recited, keeping her eyes on mine. "The powers of our legends are beyond Remnant's comprehension, and the knowledge of any of them could be used by less than savory people. I remember. But Ozpin." She crossed her arms, her mouth turning into a frown. "This isn't any legend that you've told our secret group. You've told us about the importance of the Relics but not a single word about this. You know something, but you won't tell us what."

"No, I haven't. You're observant as usual, Glynda. That's why I brought you into our group. You catch stuff people normally wouldn't catch." I formed steeples with my fingers. "I do have a good reason why I'm not telling anybody. Even if you did know, it wouldn't make sense. At least with my legends, there's some sort of tangibility to them. They can be seen by normal eyes. That's why we hide them. But the thing that happened yesterday is intangible. No normal person can see what's truly going on. As such, it's easier to blow it off as some unusual series of events or the paranormal. No one would believe it happened."

I adjusted myself in my seat. "Glynda, this is a matter that nobody should have to deal with. I recognize this is a serious business, and it will be dealt with." I looked at the clock. "It's a perfectly good Sunday. I heard the weather's good. Enjoy it in the city, relax in your office, keep your mind off of the issue. It shouldn't appear again."

Her eyes narrowed, considering my words. "Okay," she nodded. "I don't like what you have to say. In fact, I still think you should've gone clean. But I'll put it aside, for now." She turned around as if to leave, but stopped. "I'm going to keep this conversation in mind. If something like this happens again, I'll be back, demanding actual answers this time." Without another word, she made her way to the elevator.

Before the doors closed completely, I made one final statement: "I know." My steaming cup was set to the side as I pushed my glasses up to rub my eyes. I spent so much time trying to keep civilization away from the Stands. It's the least I could do after I let my hubris get the better of me. I can't let the Queen complete her plans. What she wants cost us too much.

Admittedly, Glynda's right about this. I should tell somebody about the Stands. But who would believe the idea that there were spiritual beings that can break every known rule of the universe? It was hard for them to accept the idea about the Relics until I showed them one of them. But there's no way I can show them a Stand. But… maybe I can tell them about the Arrow. At the very least they can believe that. Hmm… that'll work. I wonder when the group is available to have this kind of talk. Qrow's still out on the field somewhere. The other Headmasters are always busy. Well, we can start with James, since I think he's not busy right now.

A presence appeared behind me as I opened up an email to send to the General. The sounds of a tongue clicking vibrated in my ears as the figure made their way behind me. I remained at ease, however. It's a presence that I've been used to for a long, long time.

" _It's been a long time since we could talk, sir,_ " a deep, melodic voice spoke. " _I didn't think that my presence was necessary in this day and age._ "

"A sentiment that I share as well, my friend." My eyes turned back to the monitors displaying the camera feed. It seems that the two were about to arrive at the stopped before slapping their foreheads. "But a lot has changed since the last time we had the chance to talk. Get comfortable. We have a lot to discuss."

* * *

"I can't believe we didn't think about this," I groaned, tugging at my blonde hair as I stared at an empty platform. Ruby stood next to me in a similar position, drawing out a long sigh. I rubbed my forehead. "How did we forget? Airships don't start arriving until nine on Sunday! It's barely eight right now!"

"Oh gods, this isn't good at all." Ruby grabbed my shoulders, jerking me towards her. "What are we going to do, Jaune? While the information we got from Nolan was nice, it's still off by half a day! Who knows where the Arrow will be by the time we get to the docks!" She shook my shoulders. "There's gotta be another way off of Beacon cliffs that's not by airship! Like an old pathway, or maybe a launch pad like the ones during Initiation!"

My mind raced, digging through everything in my head. Why did this sound so familiar? Come on, I remember talking to somebody about another way out of Beacon. When was it? I racked my brain for the answers. It had something to do with Nora and Ren. That I remember for sure. Something about not knowing that transport was free, and sneaking through a facility. I slapped my forehead. "Of course!"

The young leader turned towards me, raising her eyebrows. "What is it, Jaune? Did you figure something out?" I nodded, rushing towards the platform and gazing at the area around it. Okay, there's gotta be something here, like some kind of hatch, or maybe an automatic door. My eyes surveyed the ground only to find nothing of use. Nora said that they came out somewhere alongside the platforms; where is it?

A tiny detail caught my attention. A single round sheet of steel stuck out from the metallic platform. It almost blended in with the ground around it. In fact, the only reason I spotted it was because it was a duller shade than the rest of the ground. There's no way that could be just a coincidence. I took a couple of steps towards it, squatting down to get a closer look. It had the same shade as the cement around it. No wonder I didn't see it at first. This might be what we're looking for.

"What's over there, Jaune?" Ruby asked as she approached me. The girl looked over my shoulder before letting out a hum. "Doesn't that lead to the sewers or something?"

"Why would an airship platform need immediate access to the sewers?" My fingers started prying at a tiny gap on the edge of the manhole. With the help of **「** **EVERYDAY BOY,** **」** I can feel the density of the manhole drop. "Nora told me about one of her escapades with Ren. It involved riding an elevator up to an underground service tunnel right below Beacon and escaping through some sort of hatch. If they weren't trying to pull my leg—" I yanked upwards, flipping the metallic covering open. It swung alongside a hinge, slamming into the ground with a loud gong and revealing a set of ladder steps. "—This must be the spot."

She let out a cooing noise before stepping forwards and taking a small whiff. "It doesn't smell bad." Ruby's hands pressed against the edge of the hole. "Maybe you have a point here, Jaune." She leaned forwards, slipping down the dark hole. A grunt echoed from the caverns shortly afterward. "There's nothing wet down here! Come on down!"

I nodded, starting down the ladder before a thought hit me. With a shrug I grasped a handle on the manhole, closing it over us. Darkness shrouded us as the hatch shielded everyone from the sun. The only sources of light are the orange bulbs, and that didn't help with my vision at all. "Hey, Ruby?" I yelled down to the girl. "I could use a bit of light down here!"

A nervous chuckle vibrated through the tunnel. "Could you drop your scroll down here instead? Hehe… I forgot mine back in the dorms." A groan escaped my mouth. "I'm sorry Jaune. I forgot this one time! I mean it's not my fault anyways! Even if I did remember, Zwei was sleeping right next to my drawers! He would wake up and start barking if I came close to him!"

"Huh? Is Zwei a— You have a dog in your dorm? Isn't that against Beacon rules?" Ruby said nothing, letting out the whistle every person uses when they don't want to look suspicious. I sighed. "Whatever. I'll make my way down first." My fingers released the rungs as I dropped myself down to the ground. I landed feet first before I stumbled backward and landed on my rear. Ow, I should really get around to making a good landing strategy.

Ruby's voice echoed through the tunnel. "Woah! Jaune, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, bringing myself back to my feet and brushing myself off. "Bad landing, that's all." A press of a button activated the flashlight function, illuminating the tunnel with an artificial white light. That's much better. Ruby appeared in front of me as she shielded her eyes.

"Geez, Jaune! Don't flash it my way!"

"Oops! Sorry!" My wrist twisted the beam of light away from her face. "My bad!" Now that we weren't completely blinded by the darkness, I glanced around the corridor. In comparison to the science fiction-esque platform above us, the concrete surrounding us gives off a more industrial feel. Memories of old history lessons popped back into my mind. Didn't Mountain Glenn use a lot of concrete for all of their structures? I shook my head. Now's not the time to be thinking about history, Jaune! There's an Arrow we have to go after!

I hummed as I looked at the two directions. "Well, let's see. If I remember correctly, the platforms and the cliffside are to the right of this ladder." I twisted my body to the right. "So that means why need to go this way. I guess I'll lead, since I have the flashlight." Ruby nodded, staying close behind me as we started walking.

We didn't need to travel long. The hallway came to a dead end after a couple of minutes of walking. To our right was a giant elevator door. It looked like it was designed to bring in a ton of stuff, like a freighter. I let out a long whistle. "Man, I guess Nora was telling the truth then." I jammed my finger at the down button, causing the door to open and reveal a wide empty chamber. Several straps that looked like harnesses lined the walls. A handrail also ran around the room. Every couple of meters, there was a metal loop welded on. It's most likely a place for one of those mountain climber clip things to clip on to. It was called a carabiner, I think? But that didn't matter. I stared in awe. "Wow! That's a big room!"

Ruby cooed in awe as she stepped into the elevator, with me following close behind. "I can't believe they made elevators this big! I think we can fit an entire car in here! She smashed her fist against the only button available to us inside the elevator. "This is so cool! I can't believe we get to travel like this! Next stop, the docks!" I gave her a smile, but something was nagging me in the back of my head; there was something off about this.

"Wait a moment." My eyebrows furrowed as I watched the doors close on us. "I feel like there's something we're not considering." I tapped the base of my chin.

"Aw, come on Jaune! We couldn't be missing anything that important!" Ruby plopped against one side of the wall. "It should be like a normal elevator! Hit a button, and we sink down to the surface!"

"Yeah, I guess, but at the same time, we're really high up. Like, really high up."

Ruby gave me a shrug. "I'm not really getting what you're trying to say, Jaune."

My back pressed against the wall next to her. "Think about it. Beacon's roughly two and a half kilometers above sea level. Nobody's going to sit down there bored waiting for the elevator to come back down. So wouldn't it make sense for an elevator to move faster the taller a building is?" She nodded. "If we're moving really quickly, how are we supposed to stay in one spot?"

Right after I said that, the elevator floor fell away from us. A scream escaped from both of our mouths as we started floating in the air. My friend started drifting towards the center of the room. "Jaune!" Ruby waved her arms through the air, trying to swim towards me. Nothing really happened despite her efforts. "What's going on?" Somehow in my panic, I managed to register those words in my mind. The familiar feeling of nausea hit me.

My heart was pumping so fast that it felt like it was going to burst. I gagged, throwing my hands towards my mouth. "Freefall," I managed to get out. "We're free falling! Oh my gods, it makes sense now! That's what those harnesses on the side are for! We're supposed to strap ourselves in!" I grabbed the strap, wrapped it around my arm, and pulled myself towards the wall. "It's there to stop our fall!"

The girl paled as she heard the situation. "What? We are?" Her eyes glanced towards me. "But that's only for the workers without Aura, right?"

"But Aura can only go so far, Ruby! I'm sure Huntsmen still have landing strategies for a reason! If we land wrong, we can still hurt ourselves! But how are we going to perform a landing if we don't know where the ground is?"

At this point, Ruby's grew to the size of saucers. A shriek escaped her mouth. "What do I do?"

"I don't know, I've never been in a situation like this before!" I threw my arm at her. "Give me a hand or something!"

She nodded, summoning Rose. The white cloaked figure chopped at Ruby's right arm, severing it from the elbow down. The girl gasped as she grabbed the limb and threw it my way before dissolving into rose petals. My face crinkled up in disgust as I caught the arm. "That's not what I meant, but good enough!" Within moments, she rebuilt herself. Now fully completed, my friend snatched one of the harnesses and it around herself. How long are we going to fall? "Brace yourself, Ruby! We're going to hit the bottom any time now!" I shut my eyes, waiting for impact.

However, the elevator broke my expectations, instead slowing down to a gentle halt. We didn't even jerk around. Everything was completely smooth. My eyebrows flew up. What? We both made a sigh of relief as we unbuckled ourselves out of our harnesses. "Wait, what happened?" I asked as I slumped to the floor. "Shouldn't the landing be more violent? It felt like we were in freefall for way too long unless—" I slapped my face. "Oh yeah. Gravity Dust. Wow, now I feel really dumb."

"Not as dumb as I feel!" Ruby snapped back onto her feet, brushing dust off the front of her dress. "I chopped my arm off thinking I was going to spatter to a paste!" Yeah, that's true. She did panic for a moment there.

"Hey, at least I didn't throw up this time." I elbowed her in the arm. "It would suck if somebody figured out where we were because my stomach couldn't handle it."

The doors popped open, revealing a giant warehouse. Ruby swallowed down a gasp. The whole entire place was filled with boxes of various sizes and materials. Wooden boxes, metallic boxes, and cardboard boxes rested on giant metal shelves stretching stories high. Some of the crates were lying on the floor. Several workers in neon vests walked around the facility, working as usual.

I turned my head towards the young leader, who gave me a questioning look. "So, do you have a plan?" A smile formed on my face.

"Nora told me about this part as well." I took a step and looked around the area for what we need. "There're a lot of boxes in this place, more than a dozen workers can track. In fact, I don't think anybody will notice if a couple of them moved around on their own. After all, it's their job to move boxes around."

"What are you saying—" There! My hands grabbed an empty cardboard box. I chucked it at her. A yelp nearly escaped her mouth as she barely managed to catch it. The thing looked almost as big as her. As for myself, I took another cardboard box and slipped over me. From the handle hole, I could see her raising her eyebrows at me.

She couldn't see the stupid grin I have on my face. "Get in the box. We're sneaking out of here in style."

* * *

My fingers twirled around my favorite Zippo lighter. The metal container looked as if it walked across my fingers like magic. Of course, there's nothing magic about it. Simply sleight of hand and finger endurance. But people are so willing to buy into the mysterious. They always want to believe that there's something out there beyond our control; that we aren't the ultimate decider of our fates. Hah! Anybody who says that are content with being losers. They aren't willing to accept that we can recreate these incredible feats. However, I am. That's why I do what I do. I don't look to a higher power, hoping for a better future. I create my own magic.

With a twist of my fingers, the Zippo stood straight up between my index and thumb finger. With the other hand, I snatched a cigar that sat next to my favorite hat. With a quick flick of my thumb, I lit the tip up and took in a long drag. A feeling of euphoria ran through me as the smoke filled my lungs.

I let out a sigh, tapping the ashes off from the edge of the building. The cloud that escaped my mouth sank in the air. How long was I supposed to sit here? It's already bad enough that my employer's staying silent about her current plans. In fact, I don't understand why she wants me to deal with little Red and some blonde kid. They've been a nuisance for sure, but it didn't stop the Dust heists I've been performing for years. It's only now that she demanded that I hunt them down.

Maybe it had to do with the mythical spirit people the woman's been raving about. It's funny; I myself have one floating behind me, but at the same time, there's the pragmatic side of me saying that it's all hogwash. This little feud means so little to me. As long as little Red and her friends stay predictable, it's possible to work around them, but no. She wants them taken care of as soon as possible. Not my style at all. I'm not a thug, I'm a thief. My job is to avoid confrontation. It's my partner's job to manhandle everyone. But then again, she's in on this job as well, so I can't argue there. Her Stand's going to be critical for this assassination attempt.

The sounds of heavy breathing from afar caught my attention. Within moments, I sank as close to the edge as possible. My eyes squinted at the two figures right below me, one in red and one in white. A sigh escaped my mouth. There's no doubt. That's little Red and some blonde idiot. I should listen in a bit, see why they need to be put down.

"Jaune!" A female voice took in several deep breaths. "That was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done!" Sounds like little Red was talking to her friend. "I think we lost more time trying to sneak out of there than if we just waited for the airships to come!"

The blonde threw his hands up into the air. "I'm sorry! Who knew that crawling around in a box would be taxing? I mean Snake can do it for hours, and he did it risking death! I thought we can just as easily do it! And besides, I didn't expect one of the workers to pick the box I happened to be in! That was bad luck all around!"

Little Red opened her mouth as to say something before stopping. "Well, at least we made it to the docks. The Arrow and the creature must be around here somewhere." My eyes widened. So they know about that ornate arrow. One scratch from the arrowhead releases a Stand within a user with strong willpower. I would know this: after all, somebody jabbed the Arrow into my and Neo's back the moment we agreed to take on this job. My face crinkled as I reached for spot right under my neck. It wasn't a fun experience, that's for sure.

I kept watch of the two children. If they know the secret of the Arrow, then they must already be Stand users. No wonder my employer wanted them dead. They can topple whatever plan she has up her sleeves. My pragmatic side wants to slip away right then and there. Why stick my neck out for my employer? She's bitten off more than she could chew, especially knowing little Red.

My thoughts went back to my hidden partner. But if we leave now, our old life of stealing would end here. Nobody's going to let two Stand users wander around the city unhindered. We would have to be on the run for the rest of our lives with those ideological fools hunting us down to the ends of Remnant. Our only chance of continuing this life, of escaping the cycle lies in our ability to pull this run off. I gritted my teeth on the burning cigar. Offing two kids is a scummy thing to do, even if they did interfere in my work many, many times. But it was to survive…

The caped girl placed her hands over her eyes, surveying the area. I backed myself a bit further, so that they didn't spot me. "So where do we start?" From the corner of my eye, a dark creature leaped out into the open, landing on a metal container with a loud clunk. Everybody's eyes turned towards the monster. The children let out a gasp.

The blonde was the first to react to its sudden appearance. "Wait. Ruby, is that—?"

What am I looking at? It's like a creature of Grimm, yet different. Its skin was black, yet the bony structure commonly associated with the Grimm is absent. Dark, glowing eyes glowed through its eye sockets. The figure reminded me of a young infant, maybe a year old or so. The humanoid monster danced on top of the box before pulling out the Arrow. My eyes widened in shock. How did this thing get the Arrow from my employer? In fact, what is that thing doing? It's holding one of the most valuable artifacts to date, and it chooses to show it off to the two people hunting it down?

"Jaune, after it!" Little Red sprinted towards the creature. "It's got the Arrow!" She leaped on top of the metal container, only for the little baby to titter and jump right off. The blonde boy dove after it, but it jumped just as it landed, avoiding the boy and bouncing towards the warehouse I'm on top of. Wait a minute. Is that thing… our ally? I shook my head. No way. People aren't friends with the Grimm. No, it looks like it just wants to mess with these two. However, it is going in the direction I want to go. Originally I was going to bait them into entering the warehouse, but if that thing's the bait…

A smile crawled across my face. My employer didn't mention this fact, but I'll take what I can get. My hand reached for my bowler hat and I rested it on my head. The other thumbed at a scroll, typing out a message.

_Neo, targets coming into range. Activate_ **「** _ **CORNERSTONE.**_ **」** I sent the text, pocketed my scroll, and grabbed my cane. I snatched a knife and stuffed it into my sleeve, letting the object be swallowed up in its bagginess. And like that, it's like it completely disappeared. A whistle escaped my mouth as I made my way towards the roof entrance. Roman, it's your time to shine! Time to put these kids in their place. It's **「** **CHAINING DAY.** **」**

* * *

"Hey, come back here!" I yelled as I leaped off of the metal container. Jaune got up from his dive, making a sprint towards the Arrow carrier. The creature didn't stop, instead moving towards the warehouse in front of us. My heart pounded as I considered this stroke of luck. What are the odds that we would just run into it just like this? We can't let the opportunity slip through our fingers! This is the best chance at stopping the monster from creating new Stand users!

I let out a growl as I ran towards it. If only the creature wasn't floating so high up. I would be able to tackle it out of the air with a single use of my Semblance. In fact, if I had Crescent Rose with me here, I can just shoot it out of the air! But we're stuck on the ground, while that thing's in the air. How on Remnant could that thing fly? It doesn't even have any wings!

Before I could think of anything else, the monster flew into an open window of the warehouse, disappearing out of sight. "Ruby!" Jaune sounded hoarse. "We have to run in! We're going to lose it otherwise!"

"I know!" My eyes ran along the wall, looking for any way we could get in. I smiled as I spotted a small side door. "Over there!" I pointed at the structure. "I'll ram it open, and then you come in with your sword out! We'll close all of the windows and doors, and then we have all the time in the world to take the Arrow back!" Jaune didn't say a word, instead slowing down his breathing. I braced myself as the door approached me. This was going to hurt.

With a strong burst of super speed, I smashed through the door, breaking it into little bits. Wood splinters forced me to close my eyes as I landed on the ground. I can hear the boy's footsteps follow me into the building and the sounds of a sword being unsheathed. "Um, Ruby?" Jaune had a tone of confusion in his voice. "You're gonna want to see this."

My eyes popped open, seeing that I'm not lying on cement like I thought I would. Instead, a rough beige carpet entered my sight. What in the world? I looked up. We were in a corridor, similar to what one might find in an apartment in the city of Vale. It had a nice, warm feel to it, with various painting hanging on the walls. A small side table rested to the left of me. Another room was visible from where I am, most likely the kitchen or main room. A stairwell sat right past the table. I pushed myself up to a standing position.

"Jaune, where are we?" I brushed myself off as I asked the question. "I don't think that this is a warehouse building."

He shrugged. "I'm not too sure myself. This is weird. It doesn't look like the building we entered." The boy let out a hum as he looked over at the table. "Hey, there's a scrap of paper there." My eyes turned over to my left. There is something written on it. "Try reading it or something."

I nodded, snatching the paper up in my hands.

_In a single blink, I found myself seated at a fancy wooden desk. Wait, when did I end up here? Wasn't I standing up a moment— My hand within a pink and white coat reached for a pen on the table. Why do I have a white coat on? I tried pulling away, only to find that nothing I do works. I felt my face grow clammy as the realization hit me. This is bad. Really bad. I can't control my body._

_There was nothing I could do but watch as I wrote something down on a piece of paper._ To the person reading this right now. _My throat became dry in fear. Now I know for sure that's not me. Who's writing the letter?_ If you are reading this, you are stuck in my **「** **CORNERSTONE.** **」** It's too late for you. No matter what you do, there is no way for you to exit my home.

I yelped as I dropped the paper. Within moments I found myself back to the hallway. What did I see back there? That didn't matter. What's important now is that I warn my friend.

The boy looked at me with some concern. "Ruby, are you alright? What happened—"

"Jaune! This is a trap!" That shut him up, causing him to pucker his lips in worry. "This house is the work of an enemy Stand! We have to get out of here now!" My body twisted one-hundred and eighty degrees. The door was fixed, closed shut in its frame. I grabbed the doorknob and twisted. Nothing. The thing won't budge! I slammed my body into the wooden structure. "Open up!"

"Wait, let me try." I backed off, giving Jaune some space. He touched the side of the door before leaning back. His right leg was twitching, ready to kick down the obstacle in front of us. "One, two, three!" With a furious roar, he slammed his foot with all the force he could manage. But it wouldn't budge. "That's impossible," he gasped as he stepped back. "I reduced the density of the door and increased the density of my foot. There's no way it should still be standing."

My back pressed against the wall as I summoned Rose in front of me. Two thoughts ran through my mind as I scanned the area. Who's trying to hunt us down? And more importantly, how do we get out of here?

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = _June 23, 2017_**


	13. Cornerstone and Chaining Day - Part 1

I held my sword up as I pressed myself against a wall. Ruby's right beside me, choosing to stay behind Rose. I wanted to slap myself. Someone's hunting us down, and we just waltzed right into their trap! My eyes glanced around the empty corridor as a sense of dread built up in my chest. What can this Stand do? It obviously trapped us in here, but there's no way that's its only ability. There's gotta be something to this house that we don't know about. There has to be something else, something that spooked Ruby when she touched the paper.

Who's the Stand user? The fact that somebody trapped us here points to somebody who might want us dead. Could it be one of the criminals Team RWBY fought back during the first semester? Where could that person be right now? Depending on how big this house is, it might take us awhile to beat up the Stand user. And granted, I can only see the corridor that we entered, but it could potentially be a giant, sprawling building.

Which brings us to what might be my most important question: how do we leave this place? If we don't get out of here in time, we're going to lose the creature and with it the Arrow. We're so close to stopping it right now. If we can't… Visions of Team RWBY and JNPR gaining Stands appeared in my mind. Would they be like Nolan, unaware of the destruction they can cause? Will we have to pummel our friends to the brink of death just to save everyone else? And considering how dangerous Stand abilities are, there's a chance that one of us can go too far and actually— I shuttered before shaking my head. Don't think about it, Jaune. Make sure it never happens.

But there's another reason we should make this fast; we don't know what's going to happen to us. Nolan's Stand according to Ruby paralyzed everybody and nearly exploded everyone. Something like this can happen here, too. The sooner we escape, the less time we can be exposed to this Stand's abilities. But we need to figure out the Stand's ability first, right?

"Hey Ruby?" The girl jumped, shooting a glance at me as I lowered my sword. "What happened when you touched the paper? What's on it?" I started reaching for it.

"Jaune, don't touch it!" My hand stopped in midair. "I don't know what's going on, but when I touched it, I got transported into some sort of vision. Before I knew it, I was writing the thing on the page!"

"You… were writing the note? That doesn't sound that bad, but… Alright, I won't touch." I leaned down to inspect the paper. We're lucky that the text landed face up. I don't know what we were going to do if it didn't. "Okay. 'If you are reading this, you are stuck in my **「** **CORNERSTONE.** **」** It is too late for you. There is no way for you to exit my home." Shivers went down my spine. Does that mean we're trapped here? Is the house the Stand? I continued reading.

"However because it wouldn't be fun otherwise, let me tell you a secret about my Stand. One of the items in this house holds the key to escaping **「** **CORNERSTONE.** **」** We will not go after you if you can leave without dying." My eyes widened at that. So there is a way to get out! I continued: "However, there are a lot of items that have sentimental value to us. If you touch something that isn't yours, there will be a price to pay." I puckered my lips. A price to pay. What does that mean? "And by the way, one of us will be at home ready to kill you. The other will be watching very closely."

The room got a couple of degrees colder. My head yanked up, trying to spot anyone watching us. Nothing but two mirrors hanging on opposite sides of each other. "Ruby," I hissed at the girl. She jerked up in surprise. "We have to get out of here. What else did you see in the vision? Maybe it might give us a clue about what we need to find."

"That's all." She gave me a shrug. "That's all I saw myself doing: write the note. I don't remember seeing anything else." I let out a sigh at that. Well, that makes our task a lot harder. The girl let out a hum. "I mean, we can just search the house. From the looks of it, the building isn't as big as it looks to be. It's similar in style to a small home in the residential district. One of my friends back at Signal had a house similar to this. I think we can search through the entire place without losing too much time."

My lips pressed against each other. "I don't think there's anything else we can do but search for the key out. So, should we start with the door on the right?" I pointed Crocea Mors towards the white painted door. "I'll go in first with the shield up, and you keep my back safe from anyone attacking." She nodded, and with a grunt, I threw the door open.

I glanced around the room. In contrast to the carpet flooring in the corridors, the whole entire room had nothing but concrete. Visible wooden beams lined the walls without any plaster to cover it up. Each beam had hooks holding several workshop tools, from screwdrivers and hammers to more specialized stuff that I couldn't recognize. A cherry red luxury car with an open canopy sat close to the side of the room opposite of us, tricked out with a bunch of unusual modifications. For some odd reason, there was a mirror hanging on the wall closest to the car.

But the thing that caught my attention is the sheer amount of items stacked in one corner against the garage door. My jaw dropped looking at it. There's so much junk in one place! In that pile, I found monitors, children's toys, several umbrellas, silverware, books, scrolls, weaponry from muskets and swords to modern mechashift, way too many cardboard boxes and so much more! And this is just in the garage! What are the odds that the thing we're looking for is the one we need to escape?

A meep escaped my friend's mouth. "Wow… that's a lot of stuff to go through." She turned towards me. "How do we know if we found the thing we're looking for?" I shrugged.

"Who knows? But we have to start with something." I glanced at the giant pile of items, thinking through my options before turning towards the car. "Maybe we should start big, like this car. We're looking for something that can unlock our way out. What if it's something literal, like a key?" I pulled the car door open and slipped in. "If so, then there's a chance that the owners left the keys inside a car. If we snatch it, then we can get out!"

"Yeah, I guess… Oh." Ruby walked over to the front of the car and frowned. "This one looked like it got into a pretty big accident; like it crashed into a tree or something."

I ignored the comment, leaning towards the passenger seat and opening the glove compartment. My hand grabbed the wheel for a bit of stability.

_Before I knew it, I found myself driving down the streets of Vale in the moonlight. The wind whipped my face as I shifted the car up a gear. A torrent of air blew through my hair as I flew down these empty streets. The street lights zoomed past, with the indicator on the speed dial crawling up to one-eighty km/h. My heart beat faster and faster with every increase in speed. Adrenaline filled my body, making me shiver in delight. I felt free going at these speeds like I had control of my life. Like I was the king of the world and I could do whatever I want._

_Wait a minute, I can't drive. I've never taken a class! My family either walked everywhere or took an airship! I glanced around. Isn't this the car I was searching through just a few moments ago? Something's not right. I was in a garage just a couple of moments ago, now I'm on the streets. And I'm sure that it was daytime when we went into_ _**「** _ _**CORNERSTONE.** _ _**」** _ _Is this what Ruby's talking about? These are the visions she was talking about?_

" _Neo, you getting a handle of the stick?" My head turned around involuntarily, meeting the green eyes of a man in a suit. He let out a whoop as his hand held his hat down onto his bright red hair. "Whew! 'Cause you're killing it! I knew it was a good idea to try this baby out before we sell it! Man, what a rush!"_

_My mouth let out a high-pitched giggle, way higher than my usual pitch. Almost like… like a girl. And while I'm at that, who's Neo? I tried turning my head, only to find that it wouldn't move. I can't move! No… my body's moving fine, but it's not listening to me. But is this even my own body? Is this Neo's body I'm in?_

_My mind raced as I watched the buildings fly by like nothing. This can't just be a vision. It's like I'm living through a flashback of this girl's life. There has to be something more to this. Why would I be going through this memory otherwise? Whatever it is, it must be the key to figuring out how to get out of here. It might be the secret to_ _**「** _ _**CORNERSTONE.** _ _**」** _

" _Hey, Neo." The redhead jammed a finger to the left. "As fun as this is, we gotta get back and finish the delivery. Client's going to get angry with us if we don't bring the car back for him to inspect." This Neo let out a whine, rolling her eyes. Yeah, so I'm in Neo's body. That's for sure. "Hey, rules are rules. We're going to need the money, and we can't leave him hanging. You know how it is."_

" _Fine," the girl responded, making a sharp left at the intersection. She let a hmph, twisting her face in a pout._

" _Aww, come on Neo. Don't give me that." She didn't respond, instead keeping her silence. The man beside me scratched his head, his face twisting forlornly. "Tell you what. We'll go out to Hathor's Ice Cream Parlor after this, get your favorite. Tab's on me. That good with you?" A smile crawled across the girl's face. I wonder what's she's thinking about._

_Before I could consider that, the sounds of police sirens resonated through the air, rattling my— no, her body. Her smile dropped at that. Roman jerked his head back, letting out a hiss. "It's the cops! Come on! Let's lose them!" She nodded, jerking the wheel to the right._

_My stomach lurched as Neo took the car into a wild direction, drifting through a city intersection right as the opposite side turned green. Wild sounds of horns ensued behind me; what they were honking at I cannot see. The squealing of rubber and metal crumbling registered in my ears as we made our getaway. Left, right, right, then left again. Every turn I made sent me careening through the streets and left sounds of mayhem behind us. I want to look behind so bad to make sure the police were okay, but I can't move my head!_

_Another yank of the wheel steered the cherry red beast right into a narrow alleyway. All I can do was watch in horror as we drove through several trash cans, sending their contents flying over us. One last crash sounded behind me before we took a sharp left onto a small and thin street. I never felt my heart pound so quickly trying to get away from the cops, and I'm technically not the one driving it! Never in my life would I even imagine myself driving a car, let alone running away from the police in a stolen vehicle!_

_But just as quickly as it began, the police sirens faded into the air as we made some distance. "I think we lost them," Roman stated as he turned back to face the front. He gave off a long sigh. "Thank gods they didn't have the hindsight to bring any Bullheads or place spike traps on the more obscure roads." Her head turned towards Roman as he glanced at his scroll. "Looks like we're close to the drop off point. Take another turn here and— my gods, Neo watch out!"_

_What the— Her head turned back, only for her eyes to widen as I— she— we saw a car coming right towards us. My hand jerked at the wheel, swerving the car back into the right lane and narrowly dodging the car passing us. At the same time, the car squealed as the tires just couldn't get a grip on the road. No jerk on the wheel could help her regain control fast enough. A streetlight approached us at breakneck speeds. Her legs slammed on the brakes, but we were just too close. Her eyes widened at the sight of the incoming pole. It was like that odd moment where you're aware of everything that's going on, but you just can't do anything to stop it._

_The front of the car crumpled as we smashed right into it, launching me— no, her flying into the air. My legs flared in pain as they crashed through the window, creating long shards that sunk deep into my thighs, my calves, my everything. I twirled in the air. What a weird sensation. There's no way to describe it. Her throat let out a scream as she and I fell towards the ground, the corner of the curb coming dangerously close to my left temple._

Ruby jerked me out of the car, dragging me back into the garage. My eyes blinked furiously. Wha? I collapsed to the floor breathing hard. Beads of sweat are just running down my face and back. "Jaune!" she yelled as she pressed her hands down against my legs. "What happened back there? Two seconds ago you touched the wheel. Then you just… froze in place before screaming as blood shot out from your legs!" What? I looked down to see the red liquid staining my jeans. Several cuts existed in the same spots as where the glass shards hit me in the vision. I called back my Stand, and with that, the wounds faded away at my very eyes.

"I… I think I know what we're in right now." I gave her a stern stare as the wounds faded away. "Whenever we touch an item, we live through a memory of a certain person, right?" She nodded. "Ruby… I saw myself running away from the cops before the car crashed. That's someone's memory. You know, there's something I remember seeing on the CCT that reminds me of what we're experiencing. What was the name?" I tapped the base of my chin. "It was something like memory map or something?" I snapped my fingers. "Mind palace! That's what it is!"

"Mind palace?" Ruby raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What's that?"

"A memorization tool." I pointed around the garage. "The idea is that you imagine something that you are extremely familiar with. Something that doesn't take a lot of effort to remember perfectly. For most people, it's usually their house. They imagine every single detail in the house, from how it is structured to the things they keep in it. It's easier than it sounds if you live in one place for so long. Every item is associated with something you want to remember, whether it's a pattern or a memory. If you need to remember something, you travel through the memory palace and look for the item. If you do that, then you can remember almost anything."

I let out a groan as I pushed myself up. My legs are more or less okay now. That's fine. Ruby raised her eyebrows before letting out an ohh. "So what we're looking for is a memory of how to get out?"

"Yeah, that seems to be the case."

"But in this sea of stuff, how are we gonna find it?" She gave a nervous glance at the pile of stuff next to us. "If everything in this house is connected to a memory, how are we gonna find the one we need? Jaune, you got cut up touching a car wheel for two seconds, and you had your legs sliced into ribbons! What if future memories are worse?"

"Well, I think most of the injuries must be survivable. If they weren't, then we wouldn't be trapped here in the first place because the user would be dead. Every memory within this place is a memory that shouldn't kill us. Besides, we can just pull back our Stands and have our Aura heal us." I glanced at my scroll. The accident alone took roughly five percent of my Aura. "It can't possibly get much worse than a car crash. That stuff's usually fatal."

Ruby let out a hum. "Yeah, that's true. A regular civilian wouldn't have experienced that much accidents and injuries. But at the same time, didn't you say that you were driving away from the police?" I nodded. She continued: "Shouldn't that mean that this Stand user's a criminal? No matter how small time, they would probably have some tough memories to move past."

She has a point. This can't just be some ordinary person. Why would the Arrow choose an average person to be a Stand user? Back in the hospital, Rose said how only the strong-willed can use Stands in the first place. How many civilians have those qualities of determination? I let out a sigh. "That's probably the case. But we also don't have much of a choice. We have to risk it, or we're not getting out of here. Plus, isn't there supposed to be another person in here? The last thing we need is to have that person tracking us down before we can find the key out of here."

"… Alright. I'll try to start with something safer." She went up to the pile and looked through its contents. "Maybe this little plastic oven toy. How could this go wrong?" Ruby snatched up the container and froze in place. Without warning my friend let out a yelp, dropping the oven and flicking her hand in pain. "Ow! Hot! Geez, how did this person manage to burn herself on a toy oven?" I bit my lip as I glanced at one of the mirrors, barely noticing some kind of shadow disappear from sight. Was that… the user? I held my sword out and sighed. Oh boy. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

A sigh escaped from my mouth as Jaune and I left the garage, turning right into the hallway. The blonde next to me threw his hands around as we made our way into the main living room. "Ruby, you have to agree with me: there's no way one person could have that much bad luck! This girl's gotten into a car accident, burned herself on a toy oven, cut herself on plastic packaging, getting hit by a baseball bat on accident, beaten up with a baseball bat by an angry bartender, and has gotten run over by a stray bicycle! And that's just the stuff in the garage!"

"Don't forget the one where she faceplanted against the desk after a spider jumped her." I shivered at that memory. "How can one person slam their face so hard that a tooth gets loose? But hey, at least it's not along the lines of getting into a car accident. You know, maybe she keeps all of her bad memories in the garage."

He gave me a shrug. "Maybe. But at the same time, this is taking a toll on our Aura. Small nicks that we would shrug off every day just appearing on us through a memory… I don't miss not having Aura. Man, getting hurt without Aura sucks!"

"Well, look at the bright side. At least we don't have to check the garage anymore. That's one room down." We walked into the big living room and screeched to a halt. My jaw flew open as I felt the blood drain from my face. The junk pile here is even bigger than the one in the garage! Like if the one inside the garage was a hill, this was a mountain! If the garage looked packed, then this room was filled to the brim! Are we ever going to get out of here at this rate?

"Oh my gods. Where are we going to start?" Jaune asked as he smacked his face and groaned. "I swear, everything here is a deathtrap just waiting to happen!"

I glanced at all of the items within the room. Come on, something's gotta be safe. The smooth texture of silk caught my eye. "Well, let's try this umbrella." I pointed to a pink one with white lacing. "I mean, it's an umbrella. What could go wrong?"

Jaune shrugged. "I'd be worried about poking my eyes out, knowing this girl's luck."

"Oh, come on, Jaune! Compared to everything else, this couldn't hurt me that bad!" Before he can say anything else, I snatched the handle.

_Rain started pouring down on me as I found myself in a dark alleyway. The skies were gray, clouds snatching the sunlight away from the ground. The water hitting me came down in a heavy torrent, soaking the girl's brunette hair to the roots. I wanted to wipe the raindrops off of her face; they were clouding up her vision. She didn't do that. I think every inch of her body was drenched in the rain except for her torso._

_The only reason why her body didn't get wet was the trash bag she wore over her body, which served as a makeshift poncho. But even with the poncho she still shivered whenever the wind picked up, causing me to feel the chill as well. Well, this is different. Before there were memories of her living in a home. Not too well off, but a decent home nevertheless. But she looked like a toddler then. In this memory, her body still looked young, maybe ten years old at this point. What could've happened to her that she would end up on the streets?_

_Her eyes glanced up and out of the alleyway. The sounds of chatting and laughter caught my host's attention as she looked out of the dirty corridor and into the actual streets. Several umbrellas of various vibrant colors popped into view alongside men and women wearing beautiful outfits, expensive looking outfits. This must be within the city of Vale, probably within the Commercial District somewhere. A pang of sadness hit me in the chest. It felt so sad to see all of these people pass by all nice and dry and safe while this girl could only stare out in wonder at the beautiful colors outside her shelter._

_The girl's stomach growled. She let out a soft whine before turning away from the colorful canopy of umbrellas. The boring browns and grays of the alleyway came back into her world. Another small grumble escaped her mouth as she approached one of the trashcans. Wait, she is planning to—_

_She lifted one of the garbage lids open. The foul odor of rotting food mixed together bashed me right in the face, nearly knocking me out. If I can get knocked out in the first place. Every instinct wanted me to retch, but I couldn't control her body. The girl did crinkle her nose in disgust, so that's a plus. My sight involuntarily turned towards the mixture. A sickening mush of various fruits and vegetables covered the sides of the garbage can. The rotting plants had a pale brown color. Leftovers from a local cafe mixed and churned together with the rainwater, creating a runny soupy substance. A half eaten loaf of bread rested on top of all of that. I wanted to cry at the horrible sight._

_My heart dropped as the girl reached in for the bread, dipping it into the mixture. No! What are you doing? That can't possibly be safe to eat! You'll get germs or something! The girl ignored my pleas for mercy, instead raising the piece a bread to her chest. If I had control of my stomach, it would be churning in disgust. The smell hit me yet again now that the loaf was close to my face. I can make out a few fuzzy green spots growing on the bread. Her hands shook as she considered the simple "meal" in front of her. I'm trying my best to get her to stop. Don't do it, it's just going to come back up—_

_Without any hesitation, she took the biggest bite out of the loaf as she could. Tears ran down her face as the foul taste tainted her mouth. I wanted to spit it out so bad. The poor girl gagged as her tongue brushed against the furry fungus. Yet she still went on chewing. The already terrible taste became even worse as I could make out a hint of bitterness. Oh, gods! Please spit it out, please spit it out, please—_

_In a single gulp, the girl swallowed the mixture, letting out a small burp. The aftertaste sent her stomach churning, causing her to retch. A hand flew up to her face as she fell to her knees, weathering out the instinct to hurl her meal out. Retching slowly transformed into gagging, then into long gasps for air. I felt sick of myself watching this girl's agony. How long do I have to watch this girl suffer just to eat a meal? What's the point of seeing all of this? And what does an umbrella have to do with watching this girl eat trash?_

_Before long the feeling of sickness started to pass. Her breath started to become more relaxed and controlled. Any semblance of sweat on her forehead was washed away by the rain. A sigh escaped her mouth as she propped herself on a nearby wall, looking at the half-eaten loaf. It's still as disgusting as ever. Her mouth drooled at the sight. Yet it's the only thing she can eat. She readied herself for yet another bite. Oh no, not again!_

" _Hey you! Get back here with my purse!" The high-pitched cries of some lady stopped the girl from taking another bite. "Somebody help me! Thief! Thief! Arrest that scum of a Remnan!" She curled up at the sounds of that, pulling the bread close to her chest. The sounds of footsteps breaking through a puddle registered in her ears. Her other hand snatched a piece of piping that laid on the floor nearby her. The girl held the makeshift weapon close, ready to hit whoever would come her way._

_A young boy around my age passed through, looking back in a panic. In his hands were a bright pink handbag and an expensive looking umbrella. He had an ugly brown hoodie draped over his body, making him look big. The hood was pulled up as far as possible, covering his head almost completely. An olive green scarf covered up his face, only revealing emerald eyes full of fear and determination. He knelt down near a dumpster and peered out from the corner._

" _Is she still following me?" he whispered to no one in general, instead focusing on the opening of the alleyway. I don't think he noticed the girl in the trash bag. Minutes passed in silence. The sounds of the yelling woman faded away under the noisy rain. The boy let out a relieved sigh. "Whew, that was close. She would've had my head on a pike. Now to see what I won." A giggle of glee escaped his mouth as he popped the bag open and dumped all of the contents onto the ground. Out came a bunch of cosmetics. Lipstick, mascara, blush, foundation, and various other canisters clacked against the ground._

_He let out a groan. "That's it? All I managed to steal is some girl's makeup? There's got to be more than this! Come on, no lien? No credit cards to siphon money from?" The thief ripped into the bag, checking every single corner for something. "Aw man!" He tossed the bag on the wall in disgust. "And I thought I chose a good target this time. There's no way a guy like me can show my face selling makeup! Ugh, this sucks!" He let out an annoyed sigh, glancing at the last possession in hand. "Well, at least I still have this umbrella."_

_The pipe slid through the girl's grip, clanging against the cement. A small eep escaped her mouth at the sound. He turned his head towards her before his eyes widened. "Oh gods, no." She brandished the tube as she pressed her back to the wall. His hands flew to the air. "Whoa! Calm down, girl! I'm not going to hurt you!" The boy started backing away from her. "I'm going on my way right now, but please. Don't tell anybody about what happened. I— I'll give you these cosmetics!" He snatched a canister from the ground and offered it to the girl. "You can sell it for lien! Just don't tell anybody about where I am!"_

_She shook her head. "Don't want makeup." Her other hand slipped out from the poncho, revealing the piece of bread. "Give me food." The boy's hand dropped._

" _Really? That's it? No money, no nothing? Just decent food?" Her head nodded. The thief dipped his hands into his pocket. "Well, okay. I think I have some cans back at home. I can give you one. But after that, we're good. You won't tell anyone about what I did or where I live, okay?" The girl hummed for a moment before nodding again. With that he popped open the pink umbrella, creating a pink canopy that shielded the two from the torrent. The girl's eyes widened as her eyes followed the intricate design of the lacing. It's a pretty design, to be honest._

_The two of us took a brisk walk, only a couple of minutes or so until we reached a dingy apartment building. The brick structure was in a state of disrepair. Wooden doors boarded up the broken windows from the inside and moss hung from the ledge of the roof. The boy let out a quiet hum, fishing out something from his pockets. "Well, here we are." He spun a key around his index finger as he admired the building. "It's not the nicest place to live in, but that's going to change soon. Real soon I hope."_

_A loud creak escaped from the door as the two of them entered the home. Dust from the stale air filled her lungs, irritating them. I wanted to let out a cough, but the girl didn't do so, only waving her hand to swat the worst of the dust away. The room that greeted us only had a couch wrapped in plastic. Most likely furniture abandoned by the last tenant. The walls were bare, showing off their faded striped pattern in their full broken glory. A brick fireplace rested on the far wall. The ash on it looked undisturbed for quite some time. In the center was a small spin table with a lump of something on it. It kinda reminded me of colored clay. Various tools rested on top of them._

_Before the girl could open her mouth, the host sat her down on the couch. With the coat and hoodie off, he looked neater. A gray cardigan sat over a cotton white shirt, both hugging his figure tightly. Dark slacks completed the look. The removal of the hood revealed a bright red head of hair and a decent looking face. If it wasn't for the fact that he was poor, he "Just sit here for now. I'll get a can of corn and a spoon. That good?" She gave him a nod of affirmation. Not a minute passed staring at the fireplace when the boy shoved an open can into the girl's hands. Her eyes widened at the sight before she dug right in._

_It was quiet for awhile, the only sounds coming from the hungry chewing of the girl. The redhead was the first to cut through the silence, stating: "Hey, what's your name?"_

_Bits of corn fell from the girl's mouth as she looked up. "Neo."_

" _Oh, okay." He glanced down onto the floor for a moment. Is he trying to make small talk with this Neo? He looked back up. "What about favorite things? Is there anything you like?"_

_The girl hummed at the question, kicking her feet against the plastic wrap. "Roosters are cool."_

_A smirk appeared on his face. "Roosters, huh? Why roosters?" The girl shrugged, continuing to eat. He played around with his fingers. "So how did you end up on the streets?" Neo stopped chewing. Small tears started forming on the edges of her vision. He looked at her in concern. "Is it too hard for you to say?" She nodded, sniffling a bit. The boy sighed. "Okay then. Don't say anything then. It's better for you that way. Sucks that I can't follow my own advice. I like talking too much for my own good. Do you mind if I do? Talk, I mean." Neo shook her head._

_The thief leaned back and hummed. "So I'm living in a place like this. You're living… out there. Do you ever wonder what it's like to be rich?" He turned towards the fireplace. "For most of my life, ever since I saw the rich walk on the streets, I wanted to be rich and famous. You know, like the people living in the Upper District. I wear stuff to make me look rich, but I want the real deal. I don't want to keep living in this place alone forever, just rotting in these kinds of buildings without a penny to spare."_

_He held his hands out, lost in his own vision. "I want to live in a big house, with a ton of stuff to fill it with. Not like this empty, dirty place. I want to be someone people consider important, doing what I love." He gestured to the table of clay. "I want to do whatever I want without having to sell it away to stay alive. But nobody wants to hire a kid. Nobody wants to buy clay sculptures from some kid on the streets. There's no way for me to survive, let alone grow rich. So I steal. I commit crimes. It's the only way to keep living, no, to succeed with the cards people like us are dealt." The boy waved it off. "But that doesn't matter. We're not going to see each other after this." The girl looked down to see an empty can. He must've noticed too, considering the look on his face. "Well, I guess it's time for you to leave."_

_Neo placed the can to the side before standing up and starting for the door. "Wait." She stopped and turned around. A silky material slipped into her hands. "I don't think I can sell this umbrella either without getting caught. Go ahead and have it. It's still a rainy day, after all. But a little advice from me, I would stain it or put dents into the thing so it looks like you rooted it from the trash."_

_She gripped the colorful canopy in her hands and gave the boy a big smile. "Thank you."_

_"Hey, anything to keep surviving. It's not often people listen to me in the first place." He gave the girl a toothy grin. "When I get big, give big thanks to Roman Torchwick, okay?"_

"… Wow." I stepped away from the table, dropping the umbrella to the floor. "I can't believe it… this girl knew Torchwick? But he's a terrible person! He steals Dust from stores!" How could a kid like him grow up to be such a horrible person? He's… he was such a good person back then! He helped that girl out for no apparent reason! This can't be right, this can't be the Torchwick I fought at the Dust store or in the highways—

"Ruby, watch out!" My foot slipped on the rug, sending me falling backward. I felt something metallic press against my back.

_I'm back in another alleyway, searching through the bins yet again. The umbrella she received from Torchwick remained open, shielding her from the rain. She didn't search even two minutes before Neo's ears caught the sounds of a scuffle._

" _Hey, punk! Ya made a bad mistake messing with me!" A thump sounded, followed by the cry that… sounded really familiar. Her eyes widened. It couldn't be… is this— Could this be? "What'cha thinking pickpocketing me? I'll cleave ya hands and send ya to the popo for that!"_

" _Nono, I can explain! Really guys, you have to listen to me!" The girl looked up in surprise. That is Torchwick! Without a thought, she dropped everything except the umbrella and ran towards the scuffle._

_She rounded the corner to see Torchwick held up by a massive, burly man. His eyes were bloodshot as bruises formed around them. Pink rainwater ran down, staining his hoodie. The brute smashed the thief against the wall. "No more games, kiddo! Talk is cheap, and I don't want it from anyone, especially from your silver tongue! Dirt like you needs to learn a lesson. Don't mess with me!" He pulled out a knife and pulled back for a quick stab._

_Before the muscleman could execute his blow, Neo had the umbrella folded back up, charging right into battle. Before anyone can react, she jabbed the metal point right into the guy's eyes. He screamed murder as blood shot out from his left eye socket, spurting all over the umbrella. The red liquid washed off in the rain as Neo drew the weapon back._

_Torchwick coughed as he fell down, bringing his hand to his neck. "Thanks— Look out!" She turned to see the man swing wide, skewering her in the shoulder and through bone._

"Argh!" Blood flew from my arm, staining the carpet red. My left arm flew towards my right shoulder as I pressed against the wound to stop the bleeding. Oh gods! Argh, my arm felt really flimsy all of a sudden. Like it could bend the wrong way at any moment. I cringed at the thought.

"Ruby!" Jaune was at my side within moments, pulling me away from whatever was pressed against me. "Oh gods, are you okay?"

"I'm good," I groaned. Rose disappeared from sight as the injury glowed red with Aura. "That took me by surprise. I should've been more careful with what was behind me." What was behind me? I turned around to see the switchblade that stabbed me in the memory. Okay, that's just not fair. My hand remained pressed against the bleeding hole. I winced as my bones forcibly mended themselves back together. No matter what, I don't want to let go, even knowing it's almost healed now.

Movement caught my eye to my left. A painting of a girl with pink and brown hair. Her eyes were also like that: one like coral, the other like chocolate. The area around her was very shiny, almost reflective like a mirror. And she's moving. Huh? Why would a picture be moving, unless… unless she's a Stand user! We both met eyes at that moment. She smirked with amusement as I stared at wonder. So this is Neo, huh? Wait a minute… she's the one from when we fought the Paladin! That's Neo? So the reason why she can't speak is— I shook my head. Now's not the time for this!

"Jaune! The mirror!" He jerked his head towards the mirror before his eyes widened as well. With a wink, she jumped towards the upper right corner, disappearing from sight. "No!" I tried crawling towards the frame, nearly slamming my hands into it before stopping. No. I'm not going to risk activating a memory. Not this time. I backed away. So Neo's traveling by mirror and watching us. Or at least, she's in a mirror. Could this tell us something? Like where would she go? The top right… that leads up the stairs.

"Oh, come on!" Jaune let out a frustrated huff. "Our first sighting and she just disappears into a mirror! How are we ever going to stop her?"

My eyes narrowed in suspicion as several sounds appeared out of nowhere. "Wait, shush!"I strained my ears. It sounded like… movement. Like how you can tell when people are walking above you sometimes. The sounds slowly died out. All was quiet for a couple of seconds. "I think I heard somebody upstairs laugh." My voice went down to a whisper. "The other Stand user isn't hunting us. They're leading us up the stairs. There's no way this couldn't be a trap, but at the same time… this might be our only chance of escaping."

The blonde boy paled. "Wait, so we're going to chase after them anyways?"

I nodded. "I think we're going to die before we find the key out. So the only way to get out of here is to go after the Stand user. And she's probably up there with Torchwick or something." I let out a long sigh. "Once I'm good to go, let's ambush them."

* * *

I had to stifle a laugh as little Red suffered yet another injury on the mirror that hung above the computer monitors. Oh, this is too much! I don't think I even need to step in to finish them off! With the sheer amount of items in the house, there's no way their Aura's going to survive all of the deadly memories that Neo has at her disposal!

My sight flew towards the ceiling as I reclined in the nice leather swivel chair. It was an embarrassing memory to get through, but the comfort was worth seeing Neo being caught by me dancing on a chair and then falling off. It's really comfy, just like the real one back at home. Good thing it was just the dancing one, too. The last thing I want to see is me catching Neo… releasing her stress from her perspective.

I swung my body around, viewing the entire room. I can't believe that they only managed to check two rooms so far. They're taking so much damage, it's not even funny. It's almost sad seeing them dig through entire rooms only to find nothing but a world of hurt. But then again, it looks like they're getting desperate looking for the object, not knowing I'm sitting on the same floor as it. Now that's the brilliant part of this plan.

Something caught my eye mid-swing, causing me to stop. Wait a minute. On that desk, is that…? I wheeled myself closer to get a better look. It's a small ceramic rooster, maybe three inches big at the most. This rooster had a bit more detail than I normally do, with more outlined feathers. But there was this minor imperfection with the beak that always drove me crazy. I thought she threw that away years ago. Maybe it's because I'm in her mind instead of our home, but wow. I gave this thing to her so long ago after that accident we got into during that one car heist. After all of the clay figurines that I made of roosters, it's weird for this particular one to be sitting in the bedroom instead of the rec room.

Fingers trembled in the air as I considered my options. Should I pick it up? On one hand, it feels like I'm intruding on my partner's life. I mean, we did agree not to touch anything that wasn't immediately pressing. And as dumb as it is, having a comfortable seat is pressing. On the other hand, this couldn't be that important to her, right? Not enough that it would be part of the house. All doubt erased my mind as I scooped the figurine up into my palm.

_I found myself opening my eyes, only to be blinded by a bright white light. My arms raised up to block the rays. What the— it's so bright! I blinked in confusion as I got my bearings. I'm… in a room. I glanced around. The wallpaper had several stains spotted around them. They peeled away from the wood, a testament to the level of neglect given by the homeowner. Chipped dishes laid around in a drying rack next to the sink. On the counters sat various cans of sliced pineapples, corn, chicken noodle soup, and sausage._

_I'm, or rather Neo's lying on a kitchen table. This must be after the car accident. I was twenty-five, she was twenty-two. We used to squat here; it's a convenient safehouse hidden deep within the broken down part of Vale. Neo had been by my side for maybe eleven years now. Yeah, now it's all so clear to me. I pulled her out of the wreckage and made a break for it for the safehouse. Considering that we trashed the car, our employer was probably going to come after our skins. But here deep in the ghetto part of town, everybody's ready to shank another person with one wrong look with little regard. Safer to surround ourselves with those looking out for their own safety._

_The wooden table I was on creaked and groaned under my weight as I sat up. A wave of pain shot through my chest, causing me to wince. It wasn't sharp; the pain is duller, the kind that sticks with a person day by day._

" _Woah there, Neo. Take it easy." I looked over to the voice to see me leaning on a nearby wall, smoking a cigar. What I wouldn't do to get a roll right now. "That crash did a number on you. Managed to get a Doc to look after your treatments." My past self pushed himself off of the wall as he knocked a bit of ash into a porcelain plate. "Your condition is stable based on what Doc said, but we don't know too much about your condition. How're you feeling?"_

_My mouth opened to speak. "Wha—" I stopped. My mouth won't finish the word. I can't finish the word 'what!' The muscle in my mouth quivered. No matter how much I try, my tongue refuses to make a solid t sound. "Roman… Why… uh-uh— I…" Frustration hit me as my mouth refuses to say 'can't.' "—I… no… say… wor—"_

_The past me raised my eyebrows up in confusion before sinking in concern. "Neo, what's wrong? I know you aren't the talkative type, but you need to say something to me."_

_Tears started running down my face. My chest started jumping back and forth erratically. "No… say… well. Wrong… mou—" I got caught yet again, the t never slipping out of my tongue._

" _No say well?" The redhead scratched his hair. "I don't know what you're trying to get at, but I think you're trying to say something's wrong with your speech." My head shook in excitement. He stuffed his hands in his pocket, rummaging for something. "If that's the case, let's try something different." A pen and paper appeared in his hands before he held them out. "Try writing out your thoughts."_

_Without a further thought, I snatched the writing utensils and started scribbling down my thoughts. Letters and words appeared on the paper to illustrate the problem before I thrust it into his hands. My past self took it, reading a couple of lines. His eyes widened. "Doctor!" he yelled, stomping towards the door. "We have a problem!"_

_A wiry old man stepped in front of the doorframe within seconds, scratching what remains of his hair. "Roman, Roman, calm down, sonny. Does this have to do with—"_

" _Yes it does!" He thrust the sheet into the doctor's hand. A quick glance seemed to do the trick as the doctor approached me._

" _Neo, is that right?" He held a hand up as I opened my mouth. "Don't say a single word until I tell you to do so. Just nod or shake your head." I bobbed my head. "Alright, so did you have problems speaking before your accident?" I shook my head. "Hmm… well did you hit your head when the car crashed?" My lips puckered. Neo doesn't remember what happened._

_"She did." Everyone turned to look at past me leaning back on the wall. "She flew out of the driver's seat and landed head first on the concrete. Knocked her out cold."_

_The doctor rubbed a smooth part of his head. "Oh, that's not good. Not good at all. Only one way to make sure." He turned over to me. "Neo, repeat this after me: 'I went out on Saturday to buy some groceries."_

"… _uh— I wen… ou… on Sa… Sa… Sa—!"_

_Again he stopped me. "That's more than good enough, my dear. I'm sorry, but you have aphasia."_

_My past self stepped forwards. "What's—"_

" _The best way to describe the condition is that it's the inability to understand and create language. One cause of it is head trauma to the left hemisphere of the brain. You got lucky; the case isn't so bad. You lost the ability to make certain sounds, particularly the harder ones like t. But your writing ability is still intact as well as your reading skill and speech comprehension. I have to say, that's better than being completely unable to communicate at all."_

" _But isn't there a way to cure it, or at least mitigate it?" my past self yelled. The doctor shook his head._

" _It's brain trauma. I can't fix it. In fact, nobody has figured out a way to cure it. The best option would probably be therapy, but that's expensive, and I don't have that kind of training. Besides, you two are trying to stay off the grid, am I right?" She and I nodded. "The second you walk into a clinic, they can probably figure out who you are and then you end up in jail!" The room went silent. Tears started rolling down her face again as the doctor placed a hand on my shoulder. "Child, don't be so upset. Compared to the other things that might've happened, coming away with aphasia is one of the luckier options. It's possible to live a regular life with your condition. Now if you excuse me, I need to get some rest."_

_The two of us watched in silence as he left the kitchen, leaving the two of us to mill about. My past self was the first to speak. "Neo…" I looked pitiful. No longer did I see a confident man who knew what he wanted in life. Now uncertainty clouded his eyes as he thought through his words. They weren't going to be received well. I would know; I said them. "I don't know what to say."_

_Neo's fist slammed into the table, causing past Roman to jump in surprise. "—amn i—!" Her throat got stuck yet again, but I know that she no longer cared. Neo hiccupped. "Why? I… won'— … acce—" I can feel my body ready to crumple in defeat. My past self leaned towards Neo's body. "No! I… —an s—!" A yelp escaped my mouth as my hand grabbed nothing but air, sending me collapsing onto the tiled floor._

_And with that, the floodgates let loose as Neo curled up into a ball, holding a hand to her mouth. I can't feel the emotions that she's feeling at this moment, or maybe it's mixing with my own emotions. But I know I felt shame. Shame that I couldn't help my partner, my closest friend deal with the news. Watching her break down through her own eyes compounded those feelings. What did I do while Neo was on the ground? For the longest time, it was just staring down at her and despairing._

_It felt like forever before Neo's head was pulled up and close to my past self's chest. "There, there. Just let it all out." Her hands wrapped around his torso, pulling him closer to her. Past Roman looked up at the ceiling, keeping his silence._

" _Hey." Her eyes looked up at my past self's face. "I made something for you." He started rummaging through his coat. "You know how you said your favorite animal is a rooster?" My past self showed her a tiny rooster figurine. Her eyes blinked twice. He looked away in embarrassment. "… In hindsight, this feels like a terrible gift. I was going to give it to you after the heist. But I guess now's a better time than any."_

_She took the clay statue and rubbed its head. A pang of relief went through me again as she let a tiny smile crawl onto her face._

_Past me sat down next to Neo and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We'll get through this together, Neo. There's a dream we have to catch, remember? Back in that old alleyway where we first met? A place where we can call our own, all the things we can ever need, a chance to give you back your words. We'll get all of that and escape our past. We'll be like everyone else; not poor people who should be thrown aside, but people that others can respect."_

The room reformed around me as I escaped the memory. I rubbed the beak of the rooster in contemplation, imperfections and all. We did a lot ever since then. But we haven't reached our dream, have we? Yeah, we have money. We have a nice home, a lot of material goods, nice clothes and even respect in the criminal world. Yet we never did escape our past, did we? At our core, we're still thieves and criminals. I thought having money would be enough to move past our previous lives. But our dream is still so far. A sigh escaped my mouth as I leaned back on the chair, looking at all of the stuff that surrounded us. Every single thing here was born out of the illegal things we did for the sake of our dreams.

"You know, I've always wondered about this, Neo." The walls didn't respond. I'm sure she's still listening in from the mirror. I didn't want to look. "Looking back on everything, have I been looking in the wrong direction? We're surrounded by all of the things that we're ever wanted, but I don't think we can ever come to a normal life. We're always going to be called on to do something illegal. Hell, our current employer's asking us to off these two kids! What went wrong? What could have we done differently?"

I let out a hum. "Maybe after all of this, we should just drop everything. Screw the Dust raids, screw our employer's plans. We've lived through more action in ten years than an average person lives in their entire lives. After what we've been through, maybe it's time to quit. It's time to find something else and live a quiet life." I chuckled. "Not like you would have any problem with that." Neo would punch me if she could. "Maybe I should offer myself up to the authorities, ask for immunity in exchange for security help. Or maybe just run back home and live out the rest of our lives with new identities."

The sounds of footsteps caused me to sit back upright. "Ruby, I heard somebody speaking in here! We'll kick down the door and take the Stand user down!" But first, we need to finish our job. The first step to true freedom. I grabbed my cane, threw my hat on, and pushed myself up to a standing position, For years now we've been fighting for our freedom from our pasts. What's one more battle to end it all? I pointed Melodic Cudgel towards the door and flicked the sights up.

The door flew off the hinges, revealing the two children behind it. With a yell, little Red charged into the room, sending her Stand out to get me. I responded by firing an explosive round, setting the whole room ablaze.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = July 7, 2017**

* * *


	14. Cornerstone and Chaining Day - Part 2

A scream escaped my mouth as I charged the thief in front of me. So Torchwick was in here after all! You're not escaping this time around! Rose flew towards the man, fists brought back and ready to pummel the man. A smile grew across his face as he squeezed the trigger on his cane. My eyes widened. Oh, what the—

A deafening boom escaped the barrel of the gun, sending a streak of red spiraling towards my face. Wait a minute… this situation is familiar. I remember back when I first met Torchwick, he fired an explosive round like this one. Or was it a Dust crystal activated by a Dust round? No wait, those were two different things. But to be honest, my Aura wouldn't have survived either of those attacks if it hit me directly. In fact, I think the only reason why I survived the Dust round explosion was that Professor Goodwitch managed to step in and shield me. One shot like this would maim a normal person. But I'm not normal, am I?

I felt my face peel apart as the round pressed against my left eyebrow. The room disappeared from my sight, replaced with a bare outline of everything around me. One figure raised his shield up to his face while the other turned his head, lowering his cane ever so slightly. A faint shock wave rumbled through the room, causing several objects to shake and wobble. Yet I'm still fine. I felt an unusual sense of force pressing against my petals, the warm energy blasting me forward. Was that due to the explosion? I'm not too sure.

I commanded my body to reform. Like that, color returned to me as my body soared towards the man. A wave of heat struck me soon after, most likely the result of the explosion. His eyes widened the moment he saw me draw my fist back. Torchwick swung his cane to intercept me, but Rose acted first, shooting out of me and launching a quick jab that smashed him right in the jaw. I swore I heard an unnerving crack when her fist landed.

The blow sent him flying into a computer desk, knocking over all of the objects onto the floor; none of them broke apart or shattered into pieces. Must be due to the effects of  **「** **CORNERSTONE.** **」** I myself landed flat on the ground just a second later with an oof. Come on… get up Ruby! I quickly stumbled back up to my feet. Did I knock him out in time?

Torchwick's eyes were glazed over, staring off into space. Huh? I waved my hand in front of him. He isn't paying attention to anything in front of him. A gasp escaped my mouth. He must be going through all of the memories contained in each object he touched. There's no way we're not going to take that opportunity! Rose charged the man yet again, her left arm swinging towards his temple. If Torchwick goes down, then we don't have to worry about somebody killing us before we find the key!

A ferocious roar escaped from Rose's mouth as her attack connected, causing his skin to ripple through the sheer force of the impact. A pain shot through my hand and down my arm. What the— A giant cut formed across my fingers before a spurt of blood flew out. I could see bits of white bone from the cut right before the red liquid filled in the hole. Rose jerked away soon after, drifting back to a spot roughly a meter in front of me.

I bit my lip. Oh, oww… Are they still…? My eyes flickered to the cut hand. Most of my fingers hung limp, but they're still attached. Thankfully, whatever he did failed to slice my fingers off. And they still wiggled whenever I want to, so he didn't hit any of my tendons. My mind raced as I nursed the wound. What? How did he manage to hurt me? He was still out of it when I attacked! I gritted my teeth, pulling Rose behind me. There's no way I'm going to drop Rose while Torchwick was still in front of me! I'm just going to have to keep bleeding until I put my body back together. The bits of flesh exposed by the cut were already peeling into rose petals.

The thief's eyes met mine as he gave me an eerie smile. "Aw, little Red… how rude. Don't you have any kind of etiquette?" the man spoke. I gasped. There was something different about his face. Namely, how there was the edge of a knife sticking out from his temple. Right where I originally hit him. However, the edge looked like it was created from his own skin! It's like… like his body was made out of clay, and it molded itself into whatever shape it wanted. But for some strange reason, the rest of his body didn't look like it was affected by the change. Besides the hard edge on his face, he looked fine! The man sighed, shaking his head while letting out a tsking sound. "I'm sure civilized people like us don't greet others by punching them in the face."

With a grunt, he stuck a hand into his head. His body swallowed up the limb with little to no resistance. His face twisted and molded itself into disgusting figures of monstrosity as he dug around his skull. Shivers flew down my spine at the sight. "You don't look too good there, little Red," he continued. The corner of his lips pulled up into a malicious smile as he stopped. "You're looking a bit pale, although I'm not sure if it's due to your blood loss or to whatever I'm doing right now." His arm stopped. "Oh." With a firm tug, he jerked a knife out from his head. My eyes widened. The blade didn't cut him at all! His face was pristine like nothing ever happened! "Here it is." He tossed the weapon on the ground with a clang.

My heart started beating faster. Okay, what does this mean? Let's list out everything I know so far. Torchwick was a Stand user who has some kind of rubber skin that can absorb whatever enters it. That means he can put objects inside his body and pull it out at will. But rubber skin doesn't explain how he created that edge on his face. How would someone like him be able to solidify their body like that? Even rubber skin men had their skin retract when they're not pulling on it. How is Torchwick doing this?

Before I could continue thinking about the problem even further, he interrupted my thoughts. "So that behind you is your Stand, is that right?" I blinked. His cheeky smile grew even bigger. "Of course it is, little Red. What, did you think that I wouldn't see what you were trying to do? Decent plan, if you weren't going against me. What you did wasn't too smart, Red." He tsked as he tapped the side of his head. His Stand appeared behind him. "You got to be more careful before you rush into this kind of stuff. Otherwise, my Stand **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** will mess you up."

My mouth dropped upon seeing his Stand. What surprised me so much about this earth-colored figure floating behind him was how much it resembles Torchwick's past self. Unlike Rose, it had a more urban baggy look, making the figure look bigger than it actually was. That contrasted greatly with how polished and chrome it looked. The figure had shiny sweatpants adorning its lower body. A furred hoodie wrapped— no, that's not the right word. The hoodie was melded into the Stand's upper body. An olive-green metallic-esque bandana sat in front of the Stand's mouth. Together with the hoodie it effectively hid the Stand's face entirely. I can't even figure out where the eyes are. But I shouldn't be focusing on that right now.

"What are you doing, Torchwick?" I flung my hands out, ignoring the pain that shot through my left hand. Jaune made his way up to my side, readying his shield for another surprise attack. "Why are you trying to kill us? I thought all you did was steal Dust from the shops and equipment from Atlas! You don't seem like the guy to kill other people for the sake of it!"

He placed a fist under his chin. "Oh, I know. What I'm doing is way outside my usual M.O. However, you did manage to intrigue my employer. Either they're really interested in your Stand or they're pissed. I like to believe it's the latter. Somehow you pissed them off bad enough that I have to get my hands dirty in the blood of children. Better than having to deal with the faunus, if I say so myself. At least we don't have to pretend we like each other."

All of a sudden Torchwick snapped his hands, crossing his arms before leaning in an odd pose. **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** floated in front of Torchwick, mimicking his pose. "No hard feelings, little Red, but whatever who're trying to do, it's not going to fly. There are plenty of times when talking can work. This isn't one of those times. So let's put a lid on all of this talking." Roman straightened up, lifted his cane up again and flicked the sights up. "I have a job to do, and you have a grave to get into." The enemy Stand moved the second he finished his sentence, shooting forwards with his body poised to strike. Not a moment later, another explosive round howled towards me.

I gritted my teeth as my vision flickered between the two things soaring at me. He's trying to force me into a corner! A trap! Either I transform and dodge the bullet then take a blow from his Stand, or bring Rose out to defend me against the Stand and risk getting shot. Fortunately, my friend and partner dove in front of me with his shield raised. "Ruby!" He nodded his head towards the approaching humanoid. "Get your Stand up now!"

" **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " I yelled, and Rose flew back with her fist extended. The bullet flew through my fighting spirit without slowing her down, instead smashing into Jaune's shield to little effect. Green eyes widened in shock as the silver Stand bashed the earthen humanoid in the chest. Another gunshot sounded off in the room, followed by the sensation of friction ripping my skin apart. A shriek escaped my mouth as I dropped down and clutched the left arm yet again. Traveling down my length of my arm was a welt quickly filling up with blood. It looked like a spinning object grazed me.

"Ooh, just missed right there," Torchwick cooed as  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** slammed its arms together. A civilian grade semi-automatic pistol flew out from its chest before clattering to the ground. The man grasped his chest with a wince. "I was so close to taking you down, little Red. However, you are a persistent one." He sat up on the desk, regarding my kneeling body with parts respect and parts frustration. "Most people would go down after that, but only you have the stubbornness to get shot and still want to keep fighting."

"… What?" Okay, forget using my Stand ability to heal up. I pulled Rose back and let my Aura do its magic. I can feel my reserves starting to stress themselves as my fingers rose up and restitched themselves back onto my hand. How many wounds did I take from  **「** **CORNERSTONE?** **」** There's not a lot of time left for me. "How did the bullet hit me? One moment ago my Stand—"

"— Dodged past it just fine?" My eyes flickered to the thief's as he raised his hands into the air. "That is a surprise, was it not? How could a normal object hurt a Stand user through their Stand? Did it ever cross your mind that whenever an object is affected by a Stand ability, it effectively becomes part of their Stand, even if it is just for a couple of minutes?" My eyes widened in shock. His grin grew wider at my action. "Exactly. It's interesting figuring out how these abilities work, don't you think?"

Before I could let out a retort, Jaune waved a hand in front of me, hushing me. "Hold back for a moment," he whispered. "We have to recollect ourselves first and figure out the obvious."

"What's that?"

"His Stand ability." He raised his shield up, eyeing the earthen Stand floating about. "If we don't know what it is and what the limits of it are, we're never going to touch him. He has all of the time in the world to take us down; we on the other hand, don't have that time. We're not going to wear him down in this place." Jaune let out a hum. "I don't have a good plan right now. My best plan is 'run away,' but that's not really helpful when we need to find the key out of here. But maybe we can take him on if we know his limits." He brought his sword up. "I'll distract him, you figure out what we can do."

With that he let out a yell as he pushed off, running towards the thief. Roman smirked as  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** drifted in front of him, ready to receive. That smile quickly flipped upside down when Jaune swung early, slicing at the Stand's neck instead of the user itself. The brown humanoid snatched the sword blade with its right hand, stopping it from striking its neck. An explosion of blood flew out of Roman's palm, forcing him to drop his cane and grunt in pain. Jaune tried pulling the sword back, but it remained stuck in the hands of  **「** **CHAINING DAY.** **」**

"Huh… so you channel your Stand through objects as well… I underestimated you too, blondy," the redhead sneered as he nursed his sliced palm. Blood dripped onto the floor, staining the carpet crimson. "Going for my Stand was a pretty smart move. However!" Crocea Mors started sinking into the Stand's hand as its skin wrapped around the weapon. "You made a tiny mistake with that. One that benefits me, by the way, so I would like to thank you for offering your weapon up to my Stand."

Jaune's face warped in a panic seeing the heirloom slowly sucked in into the Stand with a disgusting slurp. "What?!" He started rising up in the air as  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** lifted him up. The boy was forced to let go of his weapon as it zipped into the Stand's arm, sending him collapsing to the ground with a grunt. Jaune threw his head towards the man in the bowler hat. "What did you do to my weapon?"

"Oh, little boy, I just borrowed it for a moment." Roman smiled. "My Stand did always have problems with strength. Let's see if your sword helps out with that." The humanoid roared as its arm shifted. The skin collapsed on itself with the sound of squishing putty, folding and molding itself into a flat rectangle. Its fingers molded together to create a dangerous point. Sharp edges formed around the sides in the shape of a blade. The blonde let out a gasp of horror as a replica of Crocea Mors replaced its right arm. Torchwick nodded as the Stand took a couple of test swings. "Hmm… Not bad. Decent balance, decent reach. Now for the real question… how good is it at cutting?"

His Stand dove towards the boy, forcing Jaune to raise his shield up. Flesh clashed against steel, sending out a loud clang to vibrate through the room. Almost immediately Jaune rolled himself to the side, putting a bit of distance between him and the Stand. The earthen figure shook its sword hand in fury before pressing its attack. My friend didn't bother trying to fight back, choosing to hide behind his shield sheath.

As for me, I watched this fight in fascination as my mind tried to comprehend everything. Torchwick's Stand ability has to do something with absorbing items and using them in battle. That part was quite obvious. He also has the ability to take on the properties of the item. That could be seen in his usage of the knife and how he was able to fire off a pistol. If that's so, then we are in a terrible place right now. He's surrounded by dangerous items! And he probably knows which memories are going to hurt him or not! We're out of our league!

But something still bothered me. Why would he choose to just sit here instead of actively going for us? If his Stand ability was to absorb objects, wouldn't he have just saved a ton of stuff within himself? That way he never had to worry about being attacked ever again. He wouldn't need to fear anything we could potentially throw at him. But he pulled  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** back to fight Jaune. So… there must be something holding him back. He only used each item once before tossing it away. One knife cut. One bullet fired. Once that's done, he didn't reach for another one immediately to keep protecting himself. It's almost like he has to wait for some sort of cooldown before he can do it again.

I tapped the base of my cheek. What if… what if he's only limited to two objects at a time? One for his own body, one for his Stand? It would make sense with what we've seen so far. After he uses an item once, he has to eject it to prevent harm to his body but has to wait out some kind of time limit before he can try again. The items are last resorts. I balled my non-bloody hand into a fist. That's gotta be it! His ability allows him to take two free blows if planned out right. But it means that he's defenseless for quite some time if he does pull it off! Torchwick needs to kill us with the surprise attack!

But what was Roman planning to do with the sword? Even he knows that he's not breaking through the shield, so what gives? My eyes flickered back to the pummeling Jaune's going through. So far not a single slice penetrated the boy's defense. However, there was something that I noticed: every blow he took from the Stand forced him to take a step back, bringing himself closer to the fallen objects. I resisted letting out the sound of realization. He's trying to do the same thing that we did to him! He's forcing us to touch the objects and then going for the kill as we're caught in the memory!

I squeezed my left hand. The wound's all gone now. I closed my eyes and tried to guess the amount of Aura left. Might only have a fifth of my Aura in reserve. Not the best place to be in right now, but I can't exactly back down now. My eyes flew around the room, trying to come up with a plan. How are we going to get this guy to back off from Jaune? I started stroking my cape. Come on, Ruby! There has to be some kind of way to get past the requirements of  **「** **CORNERSTONE—** **」**

—Wait. I'm touching my cloak. Wouldn't cloth be considered an object in  **「** **CORNERSTONE?** **」** Yeah, the umbrella was made out of cloth. My cape is an object that happens to be in this place. I should be experiencing some kind of flashback, yet I'm not going through any memories. Now that I think about it, Jaune's Crocea Mors didn't give him any memories as well. You can say that it's never left his side, but the sword itself hasn't been touching any part of Jaune, so he should have memories. But he doesn't. So what's the difference between our items and the items in the house—

My eyes widened. We're not affected by any items we ourselves brought into  **「** **CORNERSTONE!** **」** I glanced up at Torchwick. His full attention was on attacking Jaune. He wasn't looking at me. If what I thought of was true… With that, I unclasped my cloak and loosely wrapped it around my hands. The abandoned pistol right beside the Stand caught my eye. Nine millimeter, seven bullets plus one in the chamber, one of which was fired earlier. If that's the case, then if I can cover my hands up, then I can do this!

With a scream, I threw myself towards the fighting combatants as my hands snatched the weapon. No memories appeared through my head. I let out a sigh of relief. Perfect! I just hope that there are still some bullets left in the gun. Hopefully all of them. The Stand user looked at me with surprise at my sudden re-entry into the battle. His eyes grew even wider when I pointed the gun in his direction. Geez, what a front heavy gun! Who the hell designed this thing? I can basically use this thing as a carbine if I slapped a stock on it— Ruby, not now! Just shoot the gun!

Seven bullets whistled through the air as I fanned the trigger as fast as I could. Each bullet introduced themselves with a bang, drowning out my hearing with the sounds of ringing. After the seventh, the slide stayed locked back in place. Before Torchwick could say a word, all seven bullets pierced through his torso. The look of horror crossed his face as the rounds sent him flying into a desk. Seven bullet holes sprayed blood across the room, staining the otherwise pristine white suit bloody.

The improvised wrapping slipped out of my hands as I landed next to  **「** **CHAINING DAY.** **」** Nimble hands reached for one of the empty bullet casings on my belt before jabbing it into the Stand's foot. I mentally thanked whatever god was watching me this morning when I decided to strap these on me. It wouldn't be too useful considering that Crescent Rose was still missing in action. However, their inert nature was perfect for getting Jaune's sword back without putting ourselves in danger. The earthen Stand swallowed up the empty round in an instant. As it did so, its sword arm started shifting and forming.

Jaune jumped to the side in a panic as  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** peeled its skin back, dropping Crocea Mors to the ground. Seeing the sword reemerge from the Stand seemed to revitalize his fighting spirit as he snatched the weapon back up. The humanoid Stand in front of us started backing away as the peels of the arm flailed about, trying to recombine together. The boy lets out a soft laugh. "Thanks for getting my sword back, Ruby! Now what do you say we knock this guy out for good?"

Rose appeared behind me as I gave him a wide grin. "Yeah! Jaune, you go for the Stand! I'll go after Roman!" I rolled back onto my feet and jabbed a finger at the stunned man. " **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " At my cry, Rose zipped towards him, grabbed the lapel of his shirt, and threw him into a nearby wall. Several slash marks sliced through his clothing and skin while this was happening, the byproduct of Jaune's offensive. Before he could sink back down to the ground, Rose launched a hail of punches into his chest. Blood seemed to spray everywhere as Torchwick's body became dotted with hundreds of circular indentations, all from Rose's fists. Cracks formed behind his back.

One final punch broke through the plaster of the wall, launching him into another room. Roman groaned as he crashed into a shelf filled with CDs before slumping over. My Stand pumped her fists in the air before dissipating into the air. "Whew," I breathed as I brushed the sweat off of my forehead. I snatched my cloak, which had been abandoned during the battle. A little bit of fiddling snapped the cloak back where it belonged: on my shoulders. I let out a tired sigh. "Man, that was close. Torchwick's a scary opponent to go against. Hey Jaune, is his Stand gone?"

"Yup." I turned over to him as he sheathed his sword. "Disappeared the moment he flew through the wall. Hey, at least we don't have to worry about him coming after us again. Now we have all of the time we need to look for the keys out of this place. Who knows where that monster is right now? If we don't hurry up, we might lose it again, and who knows when we'll find another lead towards it?"

"Uh huh." I stuck my head into the hole that Rose made. This room in comparison to the one we were in was a lot more childish. For one, it's a lot more illuminated. Several wall lights made sure that there wasn't a single corner that was draped by shadows. The wallpaper was a bright blue, further creating contrast between the two rooms. There was a door on the left wall that we could leave from.

The wall to my right had a large TV mounted to it with a stereo system around it. Several old-fashioned game consoles sat within the TV shelf. I let out a soft whistle. Yang would kill to have a bunch of those systems. If this place was based on an actual home in Vale— I slapped myself. Escape is our number one priority! Plus, I wouldn't be any better if I stole consoles from a thief! Then there's the fact that these consoles might put us in a damaging memory. So as much as I want them… I know I shouldn't.

Bits of plaster crackled under my feet as I stepped into the room. The wall that Roman landed on had two sets of shelves. The shelf with a ton of disks had collapsed on the thief's body, which should keep him out of commission for now. The other one had a collection of figurines. I took a couple of steps closer and inspected them. Each of the clay statuettes were made with a ridiculous amount of care. Every fold and crevice was perfect, and the paint thing they use for color shined under the artificial lights. The army of tiny animals and various humans posed on the varnished wood. A surprising amount of them were chickens and roosters.

"Jaune, come in here!" I looked back to see the boy stick his head into the room. I waved a hand, beckoning him in. "You gotta see this!"

"What is it, Ruby?" he asked. I took a step to the side, revealing the figurines. A smile crawled up my face.

"Look at these little statues! Really bad time to mention this, but don't you think these look beautiful?"

The boy let out a hum as he leaned in. "Yeah, they do look nice. Did this Torchwick guy have these specially ordered or something? It would be pretty cool to have a couple of these sitting on my desk." He reached out for one of them.

"Wait!" His hand stopped before he could grab a piglet statue. "Let me do it." My hands went underneath my cloak before picking up his the pig. "Here we go. Normally the initial is on the bottom, right? So we'll flip this over and—" My mouth stopped as my eyebrow furrowed. Compared to the beautiful paint on the top, this statue had white clay on the little stand. On it were four letters and a date:  _R.T.+N.P. 01-03._ My eyes widened. "Wait a moment, did Roman make this?"

Jaune jumped back. "What? Torchwick? You mean the guy that's lying next to us unconscious? The guy we beat up?" I nodded. We stood silent for awhile as we absorbed this new bit of information. The blonde let out a cough. "… Well, this is awkward. I don't think we're going to get good deals from him if he does decide on selling these things."

I shrugged as the little piglet went back on the shelf. "I guess not." Something caught the corner of my eye. "Wait a moment…" Way back in one of the shelve were two disk looking things. Initially, I thought that they were little ceramic stands like the rest of the statues on the shelf. But taking a look closer, I noticed that the shine's different. Instead of having a matte like finish, those little discs shined like a piece of metal. Why would they keep something like that here on a shelf dedicated for statuettes? Using another empty casing, I nudged the statues to the side and pulled the disks out to the edge.

My jaw dropped when I looked at them. They were similar to those commemorative coins that tourist shops sell. A gold border surrounded the shiny silver core. However, it's the symbols in those cores that caught my interest, for these coins had a stylized rose and crescent moons. My emblem and Jaune's respectively. I turned my head towards the older boy. "Jaune! I think we found them! The keys out!" I pointed to the coins on the shelf. "Don't you think it's weird for Torchwick to just have coins of our emblems just lying on the back of a shelf?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah… Yeah! Why would a random criminal have something like that laying around their memories? You might be onto something here!" He tapped one of his fingers against the flat side of the coin. "I'm not getting any memory flashbacks! Yeah, this must be it!" A smile crawled up his face as he snatched the coins up. With an expert flip, he tossed the rose coin to me while pocketing his own. "We're going to make it! Now if only we knew what to do with these coins."

One of the CD cases shifted next to us, causing us to tense our muscles. Please tell me that the case falling was just a coincidence. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as the wooden shelf started shaking. A familiar wave of dread hit me as we jumped away from the collapsed shelf. There's no way! Was Torchwick still conscious under all we did to him? I looked at my fellow Stand user. "Jaune, get your shield up. I think Torchwick is coming up for round two—" From the corner of my eye, I caught something round and shiny fly towards us before it beaned me in the head.

_The girl's eyes were closed, leaving me in darkness. One of the first things I noticed is how there were earbuds stuffed into her ears. 'At night, I think of you; I want, to be your lady, maybe.' I felt her hips and arms gyrate to the song in perfect sync. The song continued: 'If your game is on, give me a call boo; If your lovin's strong, gonna give my all to you!'_

My eyes reopened to find myself in the air. A CD fell to the floor; it's probably the item that triggered that stupid memory.  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** grinned at me, its fist pressed into my gut as I flew away from it. I struggled to gasp for air as my saliva nearly went down the wrong pipe. Torchwick's Stand must've punched me in the gut while I was distracted. My Aura felt like it was pushed to its absolute limits as I smashed into the doors to the closet. I took a deep breath before spitting out the glob of spit out of my mouth. Oh thank the gods that I landed on the bamboo doors instead of all of the electronics stuffed behind it.

Jaune landed next to me, sending the splinters of the wood back up into the air. He let out a wheezing cough. "You okay, Ruby?" I nodded. He rubbed his eyes as he let out a hard groan. "Man, I don't want to talk about what I just saw. Trust me when I say this: you do not want to experience what I saw on that disk."

He stopped talking as the earthen Stand moved towards the fallen shelf and threw it off, revealing a bruised but very alive Roman. "Ow," he muttered as he stood up, causing several cases to slip off of his body. His bullet wounds were gone. The only thing indicating that he was even shot were the holes in his jacket and the blood that stained his front. "That hurt. A lot. You were lucky, little Red. Actually, it's more unlucky than anything. That little stunt would've killed me if it wasn't for one thing. I still had all of my Aura keeping me alive. You know, Aura is a wonderful thing to have in a life or death situation."

The boy leaned next to me as Torchwick started limping towards us. His voice shook in panic. "Forget about what I said earlier. We got out of here before Torchwick gets here! You have your coin?"

I started to nod before stopping. I tried tightening my grip on the hand that held to coin, except I didn't feel the cool metal. Wait a minute. I had my coin in my hand just a couple of seconds ago. Where is it? My heart started pounding as I frisked myself for my ticket out of the house. Come on, where is it? "Jaune," I hissed. "I think I dropped my coin." The look he gave me was laced with frustration. So much disbelief poured from his face that I curled into a ball.

Torchwick started laughing at the sight of me. "I think I know what's going on. You two managed to find your way out of Neo's Stand, didn't you? That's why you two look like you want to run away instead of fighting me. But I managed to knock the item away from one of you guys, am I right?" My throat became dry, and I swallowed. He let out a laugh. "Of course it is! I could see it in your faces! And from the looks of it, little Red's lost the thing she needs to get out of here!" Emerald eyes turned towards the ground. "Now, if only I can figure out what it is… Oh? What's this?"

Sweat started dripping down the sides of my cheek as he leaned over and picked up a small round object: the coin that I needed to escape. Panic shot through me as he held it up to the ceiling. "Now that's unusual. Why would I have a coin with a rose on it? Unless…" Torchwick gleamed at me. "Unless this is supposed to be yours?"

I gulped my saliva down, betraying my feelings. He grinned in victory. "Hah! I'm right! So close, little Red, yet so far at the same time." The thief held the coin between his thumb and index finger as he admired it. "This is a beautiful coin, don't you think? You know what? I think that I'll be keeping this for the time being." His skin started dripping over the coin, starting to absorb it into his body.

From the corner of my eye, Jaune had his eyes tightly closed. "Ruby," he finally whispered. "Hand me one of your bullet casings. When I give you the signal, run towards him and go after your coin."

"Huh?" Despite my confusion, I complied with his request. "What's all of this about?"

His eyes roamed over the thief. "It's a gamble, but I think I can knock the coin out of his hand. After that—" He nudged his head towards the hand opposite of me. I could make out the ceramic head of a baby pig sticking out from his fist. "I plan on pinning him to the ground with this. The thing is, I need to hit him with this head on. I can't shrink it down to a size where I can fire it off. The bullet should be enough to distract him." Wait, why would he— Of course! His Stand ability! Is he betting on the idea that the statue's weight after one usage of  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** can restrict Torchwick's movements?

Nothing sounds wrong with the idea. But we're betting everything on the idea that Torchwick will take on every property of an object. Jaune tensed his shoulder, ready to throw the casing. I turned to face the thief. We have to take the risk.

Torchwick leaned forwards a bit, giving Jaune a perfect target. Seconds before my coin disappeared under the thief's hand, Jaune fired the bullet casing. Metal clanged against metal as the casing knocked the coin right out of Torchwick's hand. Emerald eyes widened in surprise as he fumbled for the piece of metal. It was the exact distraction that my friend needed. Jaune was already up on his feet and rushing towards the distracted man. Torchwick could barely open his mouth when Jaune tackled him down to the ground.

"Go, Ruby!" Jaune slammed his forearm into Torchwick's neck, locking him to the ground. "Get the coin!" I nodded, using a bit of super speed to dash towards the coin. I cried in relief as the piece of metal came back to my possession. Yes! The coin slipped into one of my skirt pockets. I should really put this away before trying anything else.

"Jaune, do your thing! I got it!" At that Jaune brought the statuette up into the air. Roman's eyes widened as he seemed to recognize the item immediately.

"That's—!" The thief's eyebrows knitted in fury. "Don't touch that!" **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** swooped over in an instant, bashing in the side of Jaune's face. My friend coughed blood onto Torchwick as he flew off, landing on the ground with a thump. The pig statue slipped out of his hand and slid in my direction. Before Jaune could get up and run away, the earthen Stand molded its body around his wrists as improvised handcuffs. A yelp escaped the blonde as he found himself pulled into the air.

The redhead got up looking furious. I've never seen him lose his composure before. He rolled up his sleeves as he approached the airborne boy. "There's a lot of things I hate in this world, kiddo. Let me list them out for you." The thief let loose a haymaker, slamming it into Jaune's gut. "I hate being poor!" Another punch crushed Jaune's nose in, staining Torchwick's hand red. "I hate being looked down upon!" Several more fists beat against the boy. "I hate nosy kids like you! I hate that the world is cold! I hate myself and what I do!" One more fist slammed into Jaune's face, leaving him bruised and broken. At this point, the blonde's entire face was coated with the red liquid. "But do you know what I hate the most?" He leaned into the boy's face. "I hate those who desecrate the memories of the one person I love in this world."

Despite all the pain he's been going through, Jaune managed to look at me. His eyes flickered towards something and then back to me. What is he trying to say? What was he looking at? I glanced down to see the statuette. A little crater surrounded the piece. His Stand!  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** must've still worked even when the object is out of his grasp! And Roman's distracted! I can end this right now!

Torchwick's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "You know, I've never tried absorbing a person before. It could potentially kill a person." He gave the blonde a murderous glare as he wrung his hands. "Good thing I don't care about blood on my hands right now, isn't it?" Jaune let out an agonizing scream as the thief's Stand started swallowing him whole. My heart nearly stopped. His skin was sizzling underneath the Stand. I have to get to the statue now! I don't have time! Before I could think anything through, I grabbed the piglet and hoped for the best.

_I found myself sitting in what seemed to be some kind of basement. The room itself was bare aside for a wall of tools, a workbench, some kind of mini-oven, and one of those spinning table pottery thingys. Roman was on the spinning table, whistling to himself as he worked on whatever project he's spinning. Neo's hand held a small carving tool. A nearly finished sculpt of the little pig figurine sat on the table. I watched through the girl's eyes as she scraped in the finishing touches onto the clay. Even though the figure was unpainted, the detail on the figurine is impressive!_

_With that, she placed the tool on the table, wiped her brow, and turned towards her partner. "Roman." He looked at her. She, in turn, pointed to her work on the table. "Finishe—." Her voice stopped before she could make the 'duh' sound. A feeling of anxiety ran through me. Is she unable to say certain syllables? What could've happened to her? This… this must've happened after that car accident Jaune saw, right?_

_That didn't seem to bother Torchwick though. He got out from his seat, brushing off the cardigan of any bits of clay. "Wow, that's pretty quick. I think that's a new record for you. May I see?"_

_She nodded, gesturing to the table. The thief made it over to her side and inspected the work. He let out a hum. "It's really detailed. I could make out every single little body part on this figure. It should look even better with a bit of glaze. Great work." Torchwick turned his head to look into my, err, Neo's eyes. "I do have a question though. Nothing to do with your sculpting, I promise." He held up the figurine. "Why a pig? I thought you loved chickens and roosters."_

_Neo said nothing, instead choosing to point at the man. His eyebrows up in confusion. "Me? But I don't like pigs."_

_The girl shook her head. She pointed at him again before pressing her finger against her nose, elongating it. "Oin—… Oin—…"_

_At that, the man gave her a small smirk. "Did you really just call me a pig, Neo?" She nodded, causing him to shake his head in a teasing manner. "I don't really follow you there. Last time I checked with myself, I'm not a raging pervert."_

_Again the girl shook her head. Neo tapped the base of her chin as she tried to think of how to explain the situation. First, she wrapped her arms around herself and mimicked rolling around in the mud. Torchwick looked shocked at that. "What? I'm not that dirty of a person!" She gave him a look that disagreed with the sentiment. Then using her hands, she mimed out a person talking before letting out a squealing noise. The laugh that escaped the thief's mouth was boisterous, causing the girl to let out a laugh as well. "Come on, Neo. Are you trying to say how bad of a person I am?"_

_Yet another shake of the head. The girl then threw her hands out before wrapping them around herself again. She twisted back and forth, mimicking the look of someone hugging another. Torchwick's expression softened at her expression. "You're giving me a lot of mixed messages with this, Neo. But thank you." He stuck his thumb towards the oven. "How about we give this thing a quick coat before sticking it in the kiln?" She nodded._

_It didn't take long before the pig was sitting within the hot fires inside the kiln. Both of them sat in front of a window showing everything happening inside. Bit by bit the coating became more and more vibrant. As they sat there watching their piece cook up, Neo wrapped her hand around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Roman?" He looked down at her face as she looked up. "I—I… love… you…"_

_He gave her a smile as he wrapped his hand around her shoulder and pulled her close. "I love you, too."_

I snapped back to reality. Jaune's just about to be swallowed up by the Stand, with only his arms still sticking outside of  **「** **CHAINING DAY.** **」** They were growing increasingly limp. I glanced at the object in my hand. The pig's coating shined under the florescent lighting. My grip on it tightened. With a scream I charged Torchwick, my speed boosted by my Semblance. All he could do was turn around and look as I slammed the pig into his chest. His body absorbed it immediately, and his eyes glazed over as he fell to the ground. A human shaped crater blasted through the floor as he landed. I can't believe it… it worked? Holy— Not now, have to save Jaune!

Another bullet casing flew into my hand as I jabbed it within the Stand. In an instant, it launched Jaune out of itself. The boy took in a deep breath now that he was freed from his prison. His skin aside from his hands looked red, similar to first degree burns. "Oh gods!" he muttered between gasps of breaths. He spat out a glob of blood. "I'm free! If that's the case, then that means—" He looked at me. "Did you get him?" I nodded. The blonde pulled himself up. White Aura surrounded him, bringing his complexion back to normal. "Let's just run for the door now. No more exploring. He could get up anytime now."

I nodded. "No disagreements there." A twitch from  **「** **CHAINING DAY** **」** pushed both of us into moving. "Run!"

We both dashed through the hole through the wall before running out of the bedroom. I glanced behind me to see the earthen Stand floating towards us. "The Stand's chasing us!" I yelled as I chose to jump down the stairs. I tried aiming for the floor right after the last step, but I stumbled forwards instead of rolling, faceplanting against the wall in the hallway. A hand grabbed my arm as Jaune jerked me away towards the front door. An earthen fist landed where my head was just a couple of seconds ago, causing me to let out a squeak.

"Come on, Ruby! Last stretch! Let's go!" We both ran as hard as we possibly could, reaching for the handle. This time it turned easily. With a push, we opened the door and threw ourselves out.

"Ugh…" The ground feels so uncomfortable. I cracked open my eyes. The boring colors of gray flooded my eyes. Wait a minute. My silver eyes shot wide open. Did we—? My body jerked itself up. We're in the warehouse again. The wooden door hung from its hinges weakly, with the wind blowing against it. I slapped my face to make sure this isn't a dream. It wasn't. A laugh of relief escaped my mouth. Oh, whew! We're alive!

"Ooh, ow." My head turned towards the voice, revealing that to be Jaune. "Ruby, I think I had this weird dream that we were trapped in a house and we had to look for a way out. But every object had the memories of—"

"—Some girl who knew Torchwick?" His eyes widened before he nodded. A sigh escaped my mouth. "I don't think that was a dream."

"So we were under the attack of two Stand users." The boy sat up. "No wonder my skin still feels like it just enjoyed a bath in acid." He looked up. "Wait… if that's the case, then where are the Stand users?"

The sounds of snoring caught my attention. "… I think I know." We followed the snoring sound to find Roman and a girl sleeping side by side. The girl was tiny! She wore a brown corset below a white jacket with brown pants and tall, white boots. The right side of her hair was dyed pink, while the left remained their natural brown.

"I guess this Neo is the user of  **「** **CORNERSTONE,** **」** " Jaune remarked as he looked at the sleeping partners. He looked at me. "What should we do with them?" I bit my lip at the question. What should we do with the two? I mean, they tried to kill us, and they're bad people. Plus, they're Stand users! We can't let them go! What if they cause something in the city? We have the means to get them arrested right now and hamper whatever his "employer" was.

But then again, they don't seem so bad. My hand pressed against my cheek. Their memories showed a pair of misfits just trying to survive. Life wasn't kind to them. If they didn't go through all of that, maybe they didn't need to turn to a life of crime. They could've just lived a quiet life as citizens of Vale, enjoying some semblance of a life. Do they really deserve this kind of future, living life behind bars? I looked up at the ceiling, hoping for some kind of sign to help me. Nothing responded.

Rose materialized in front of me and swung two fists at their temples. They went down quick, slumping from the sharp blow. "That should keep them down until we finish our search." I fumbled around Torchwick's jacket, eventually pulling out his scroll. I typed up a quick message on the device:  _To Torchwick and Neo, we will not bother you guys ever if you go into hiding now. Fake your own deaths. Live a quiet life together._  I saved the message before stuffing it back into his jacket pocket.

Jaune went back to my side with a forlorn look on his face. "Ruby, I think we're too late." He showed me the time on his scroll. Twelve o'clock.

"No way…" I took a couple of steps back. Oh gods, no! How? "That's how long we were in  **「** **CORNERSTONE?** **」** But that's impossible!"

"I'm sad as you are, but considering how long we've been in there… we've missed our window. There's no way that creature didn't escape by now. The monster's gone."

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 7/21/17**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Reference(s): Neo's 「CORNERSTONE」is inspired by Benjamin Clementine's Cornerstone. I'll shorten it down to BC Cornerstone. BC Cornerstone is a baroque/rock opera song released in 2015. It has a lot of inspiration from slam poetry. I chose this song to be Neo's Stand name because of her implied background as a normal kid losing everything. The lyrics often talk about isolation, stating how after everything "a box of stone" is their only home. It's the desperation of living and isolation in the lyrics that made me choose this. Also, I wanted a Stand name that had some kind of relation to houses, and Cornerstone happened to fit the bill pretty well.
> 
> Roman's 「CHAINING DAY」was inspired by J. Cole's Chaining Day. It's a rap song released in 2013. The main reason why I chose this song was due to its message on materialism. J. Cole raps about spending money on gold chain necklaces and other material goods, which ironically chains him better than the chains of slavery. Roman in a sense holds materialism up on a pedestal and chases after it. And people say that what you own says a lot about who you are, which is reflective of Roman's ability to absorb and take on properties of a certain item.


	15. Warning Signs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note before we start: starting now there will be a string of side stories included within the next chapters following the other Stand users introduced in the story. While the main story will focus on storyline characters, the side stories will focus more on the antics of the rest of the cast. They will not appear in all of the chapters, but they will be there and they are all considered canon.

"—To all passengers to Beacon, we will be landing soon." I looked up from my issue of Vale Hunters Monthly and sighed. Even looking at cool guns didn't help with the mood within the airship. Beside me Jaune let out a relieved sigh at the announcement. His head was nuzzled on one of the armrests as he took deep breaths. The captain continued: "Please remain seated until the airship has properly docked into the landing pads. Thank you for flying with Pegasus Airlines, and enjoy the rest of your day."

We both sat in silence as the airbus twisted in the air to dock. What happened after our fight with Neo and Torchwick was unremarkable. We decided not to stay long after we realized that we lost the Grimm baby, making a beeline back towards one of the airbus stations and flying back.

A pang of sorrow washed over me. The thought that we failed to catch the monster felt crushing. Here we thought we might be able to end the threat of the Stands early. Turns out that's not going to be the case. We failed to get the monster. But what now? We're back at square one. Now this… this thing could be anywhere in Vale or Beacon! How are we going to find this thing again before it turns a random person into a Stand user?

I shook my head. Think about something else, Ruby. I can talk with Jaune about what to do later. My eyes turned towards a big group sitting in the center of the airbus. There are about twenty or so students chatting amongst each other. Hmm… most of those guys seem familiar. Like, I don't know them, but I felt like I've seen them somewhere before. But why? I glanced at one of their bags. A familiar emblem caught my eye. Wait a minute… huh? I glanced at all of the bags. Their backpacks all had the Signal patch sewed on them. Wait a minute… are these guys prospective students for Beacon?

I raised my eyebrows. Whoa. I didn't know that Signal decided to have a weekend field trip to Beacon. Wouldn't the Headmaster tell us about this so that we were ready? Then again, I don't think I've been paying attention to the school news recently. All I can think about these days are about Stands and the Arrow and that creature thing. It's taken over my weekend! Maybe he did say something about this school visit and I just didn't get the memo.

"Okay, class," a young woman stated as she tried to calm down the jabbering group of Signal students. From the looks of it, they might be in their last year before applying for Beacon. I shuttered as I held the magazine up higher. There's something embarrassing watching people older than me going on a field trip to Beacon when I'm a student there. And are they really that immature? Did I act like that in the past? I didn't think I was that bad.

The teacher continued: "We're going to be arriving soon. Please act in an orderly fashion, and try not to wander off. After all, this visit will give the administrators a good first impression on you all. What you do today may or may not affect your chances of your application being accepted here."

The ship shook for just a moment before remaining now. The PA spoke up again. "We have now arrived at Beacon Academy. Please wait until the ramp—"

"Oh gods, finally!" Jaune threw himself up to a standing position, hand over his forehead. His cheeks were slightly green, but it didn't look like he was going to throw up. "The trip's finally over!" He held a finger over my face as I tried to speak. "Sorry, give me a moment, I gotta get off of this thing as soon as possible." With that, he ran out of the airship. Or maybe he was.

I couldn't help but crack a smile. Everything's been so serious ever since that Forever Falls mission. It's nice to see that sometimes, things don't really change. A chuckle escaped my mouth as I followed him out. The exit doors were already open, revealing the spiraling academy of Beacon. The castle-like structure looked like it pierced the clouds. A small light on the highest tower glowed bright, drawing my eyes in that direction no matter how much I try to look away. In a strange way, Beacon truly lived up to its name. It's a beacon for all kinds of Huntsmen, huh?

A long sigh escaped my throat as I stared at my school and home from the opening. Despite knowing that the monster got away, it's nice to be back at home. A true one, not the mind palace kind of home that Jaune and I were trapped in for the past few hours. A bit of movement caught my attention. Jaune stood on the bottom of the ramp, giving me a small wave. He looked better now that he was back on solid ground. I grinned as I made my way down to him.

"I'm better now. Hey, I think I'm finally getting used to flying! Oh man, that's awesome!" A grin grew on his face as he turned towards me. "Oh hey Ruby. So, what are you planning to do with the rest of your day?" Jaune asked as I made it to his side. He rubbed the base of his neck as the green in his cheeks died down. "I'm thinking about going to straight to my room and sleeping it off— oh wait! I have to pick up the ammunition from yesterday!" The blonde boy slapped his cheek. "That's right! … Well, I guess I'll do that first before going to bed."

I gave him a shrug. "I guess I'll just hang out with my team. It's a Sunday, after all. Maybe we'll have a game night or something. Or maybe I should quickly forge some kind of weapon. Don't we have classes again on Monday?" He nodded his head. My hand went to my chin as I thought about it. "Combat class is going to suck if I don't have a weapon, and I'm not going to try and fight with my Stand. No way. But what weapon should I make? I could try to make another scythe, but Crescent Rose took forever to make! Maybe I should create a basic sword? Uncle Qrow did give me some basic training in sword-fighting."

Jaune tried to interrupt. "Well that sounds—"

"What design should I use, though? Definitely a slashing weapon, since that's my combat style. Maybe a single sided saber? Or maybe I should have a knife that can become a kuma? I think my mom used two of those before. At the same time, it feels wrong." I scratched my head. "It's like I'm giving up on Crescent Rose with another weapon! I love my old weapon so much, but I can't wait any longer for someone to retrieve it!" A small whine escaped my mouth. "Aw man, I miss my old scythe."

"Hey, don't sweat it, Ruby," Jaune stated. I looked up at him. "It's only been three days since the mission, right?" I nodded. He threw his hands up in a shrug. "I'm pretty sure that somebody has retrieved Crescent Rose by now. Plus, it's only going to be a couple of days without your weapon. Professor Goodwitch wouldn't be that harsh to force you into sparring without your scythe."

"That's true." At that moment, Jaune's scroll rang. We stopped.

"Sorry about that. Let me take this call." He pulled his scroll out, taking a couple of steps to the side. "Hello? Who's this? Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know that—"

"Hey, little girl." A gruff voice appeared behind me, sending shivers down my spine. I turned around to see a gruff boy looking down at me. A green faded academy jacket with the Beacon logo draped over his body. He gave me an ugly grin while leaning forwards. I resisted biting my lip in a panic. The guy was like twice my size! I looked over his shoulder to see several other Signal students looking in our direction. And there's a sizable group behind him! What is he doing—!

I took a deep breath. Don't worry about this, Ruby. He's probably going to go away soon. Plus, he's still a student at Signal. The boy's not going to try to do anything at would get him into trouble. Just believe that you belong here. That should be easy. I do belong here. He placed his hands on his hips, swaying them back in forth like a peacock. "What do think you're doing here? This isn't a place for little girls like you!"

"I'm a student here," I responded. "I'm a leader of a team." The arrogant boy scoffed at my answer.

"You? A student? You look younger than me!" He held his hand up to where my head is. "You're a liar! There's no way that you could be a student here!"

I puffed my cheeks in annoyance. "Well, I am!"

The boy stuck his chest out. "Well, prove it!"

"I have my ID—" My hand reached for my pocket only to realize that my scroll was still in my dorm. Well, that's a whoopsie. "Okay, so I don't have my ID on me, but I can name all of the teachers on this campus!"

"So? That means nothing to me." He gave me another glare. "I don't know any of them. How would I know if you weren't lying?"

"Well, how else am I going to prove that I'm a student here?"

He smiled at that, rubbing his hands together. "Maybe having a sparring match would be fine with you? I've always wanted to see how I stack up against a Beacon student, if you are one in the first place. I'm pretty sure I can wipe the floor with you!"

"I'm not going to have a fight with—"

"—Hey Ruby?" Jaune popped next to my side waving his scroll. "You might want to finish this quick. The Headmaster sent us a message stating that we need to meet him in his office."

"Yeah, okay." I turned back to the Signal student. "Look, I'm not going to fight a Signal student. I've got important stuff to do, so just go back on your tour and be on your way." I started for the Headmaster's building.

"No, wait a moment!" A hand clasped over my shoulder, causing me to tense up. I might just need to put this guy in his place, huh? I don't want to do this… please just go away. "You still haven't proven to anyone that you're an actual Beacon—"

"Beryl Art!" The boy froze as the teacher from earlier went up to him. "What are you doing to that poor girl?"

"Muh— Ms. Tuli!" He backed off at the approaching authority figure. "I was trying to figure out if this girl actually goes to Beacon! I mean, she looks pretty young for a—"

"Well, I can assure you that she is, in fact, a student at Beacon." She placed her hands on her hips. "However, I'm not too happy that you decided that it was a good idea to pick on this girl, who got into Beacon on a personal invitation from the Headmaster himself and could slice ribbons out of you using a scythe?" He paled at that. "That's what I thought. Go back to the group. I'm keeping an eye on you, mister." The boy nodded, letting go of my shoulder and leaving me alone. I turned to the woman.

"Thank you for that," I started. "But how do you know about me?"

She gave me a small smile. "Your family are pretty boastful people. Qrow was preening the day he heard about the invitation. Wouldn't stop showing a picture of you and bragging about it for an entire week! There's no way I could ignore the cawing of your old crow. But if you excuse me." She pointed at her class. "I have a class to take care of."

"Oh! Sorry about that! Thank you very much! Say hi to my Uncle for me!" Ms. Tuli smiled before leaving me to chaperone her students. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! That was close! I was pretty tempted to use Rose to shut him up." Jaune let out a grunt in agreement.

"Yeah, me too. Good thing we didn't have to. Well, the Headmaster's calling us." The blonde waved his scroll. "We shouldn't keep him waiting."

* * *

My fingers ran across the remaining two casings on my belt as we waited for the elevator to take us to the top. It felt like my heart wanted to burst out of my chest with all of the tension in the air. It's strange. Usually, he only calls up students to his office when something serious has happened. It sorta made sense with me considering what happened yesterday, but Jaune? Aside from this morning, he more or less stayed out of any trouble. What did he do that managed to catch the Headmaster's attention?

I turned over to the blonde next to me, who was fiddling around with Crocea Mors. "Hey Jaune." He looked over at me. "Did the Headmaster tell you why he asked us to come up here?" The boy shrugged.

"All he said that it was 'of most importance that we come here as soon as possible.'" The blonde shuttered. "But it's the way he said it that worried me. You know how normally he has an easy going yet firm voice?" I nodded. "When he said those words, there was a sense of urgency and seriousness. I don't know, but I think he knows something about what's going on."

"What? But there's no way!" I stuck my hand out. "There's only five Stand users that we know of: you, me, Nolan, Torchwick, and Neo! How could he possibly know about the Stands?"

At that Jaune hummed. "I'm not too sure… but I do have a theory." Before he could actually get into his thoughts, the elevator ringed before opening, revealing a spacious chamber. We let out a small sound of amazement as we walked. The whole room had a green tint, giving this room an unusual sense of energy. The ceiling was made up of a bunch of clock gears interconnected together. They made a strong clicking noise every time the gears moved. Close to the end of the room was a desk made of glass. Sitting behind that was our Headmaster.

"Good afternoon, students." He gave us a soft smile. "I have to apologize for calling you on a short mention, but as you two must've gathered from the call, I have good reason to do so." He waved a hand in front of his desk, where two seats rested. "Please, take a seat. I expect this meeting to take some time."

We both nodded, taking his offer. Beacon's Headmaster straightened himself up. "So, Ms. Rose," he started. "How's progress on Red Like Roses?" I tensed up almost immediately. How did he— Oh wait. He must be talking about the song from Wednesday. My muscles relaxed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Not much." I shrugged. "I didn't get much of a chance to work on it, considering what happened during the mission and all of that—"

He held his hand up, stopping me. "I think you misunderstand. While it's nice to hear about your work on that song, I'm not talking about your little project from last week. I meant your progress on your new abilities." My blood ran cold as he said that. A million thoughts ran through my mind at those new words, but only one stuck out: 'The Headmaster knows about the Stands.' Beside me was Jaune, whose face showed that he also came to that conclusion. But how? There's no way! My feet were pressed against the front of the Headmaster's desk. What could've tipped him off about—

I jerked back into the seat due to a leg spasm, sending me and the chair flying back. I let out a yelp, gravity wrapping her hands around my falling body. My arms flew forwards in an attempt to stop my fall, only for me to miss the desk by a centimeter. Oh gods I'm gonna slam against the ground! I scrunched up my body so that the impact would hurt less. My eyes closed shut as I bit my lip, repressing another yelp.

But then… nothing. Why haven't I hit the ground? I opened my eyes to find myself sitting right up again. It's like I've never fell. What the— But that's not right! I knew that I was falling! Did somebody catch me? I looked over to Jaune. My friend's mouth was wide open in shock. His face showed nothing but confusion. He didn't catch me? Looking over to Headmaster Ozpin didn't help. All he did was raise his eyebrows as he took another sip from his coffee mug. My brain felt like it was shutting down. What in the world happened?

At last, Jaune managed to get a couple of words out. "Wha— What? Bu— But how? There's no way! I saw you falling a couple of seconds ago, and now you're sitting upright!" He turned over to our Headmaster. "What did you just do?"

Headmaster Ozpin let out a slow breath, savoring the taste in his mouth. "I'm afraid I can't exactly say. But your reactions prove to me that we all have an idea of what's going on." He set the mug to the side. "So let's skip all of the formalities and the beating around the bush and focus on the current situation. Most importantly the fact that several people are developing Stands." With those words, he confirmed it. He's aware of their existence. My mind raced. But how does he know? Jaune said he had an idea, but non-Stand users can't see Stands! He's gotta be a Stand user himself. No other person we know can see it. But how?

"Now I'm sure that the two of you have a lot of questions." The man leaned onto his desk, staring at the both of us. "And I'll try my best to answer them to the best of my ability. How much do you two know about what Stands are?"

My eyebrows scrunched up. "… My Stand told me about how they were the core of the soul."

The Headmaster nodded. "That's a decent explanation. Have you two ever heard of the nature vs. nurture argument?" We shook our heads. "It's the idea that all Remnans are born with a default personality. Those basic personalities and traits are the core of the soul. That's is the nature of a person. Over time, as a person grows up, their experiences build upon that core, molding and forming the person to who they are to this day. That's nurture. The argument then is whether we as people are more influenced by nature or nurture. And the accepted belief so far is that nurture matters more. Scholars generally believe that it's the nurture aspect which influences how a Semblance is formed."

Jaune spoke up. "So the Stand is our nature?"

"It could be taken that way. The problem is that Stands are purposely hidden from the world. As such, there's no research that can properly explain the Stands. This is my best understanding of it." He waved it off. "But let's move on. Isn't there supposed to be a creature that carries an Arrow?" We both nodded. "I've been meaning to take to you two about this. It's a rare type of Grimm, the creature that is. In fact, it's one of a kind. Its name: Cupid." For a moment, his voice cracked. He paused for a moment, trying to collect himself. "It's unique in how it has the intelligence of a Remnan genius, no several Remnan geniuses, yet it benefits from its Grimm traits. And it's dangerous because of the Arrow it carries."

I sat up at right. "Yeah, there could be a lot of chaos if the Arrow chooses the wrong kind of people."

Headmaster Ozpin pushed his shades up. "That might be true, but that's not the only thing I'm talking about. Have you ever asked why it's choosing to use the Arrow?" I couldn't make a single point. "You may think that it's trying to just cause chaos in general, but that's not its primary goal."

"Then what is it?" Jaune asked.

"First I need you to take an oath." The Headmaster took on a serious look, a look that unnerved me a bit. "Promise me that what you hear in this room never leaves. This is of utmost importance that this remains secret to everyone until the threat has passed. Very few other people know about what I know, and I prefer is it stayed that way. For the safety and mental well-being of Vale."

"We promise." I nodded my head. "We'll guard this secret with our lives."

The man nearly frowned at that statement before he sighed. "Alright then. The Cupid's looking for someone with a certain ability." My skin crawled at that. He continued: "There's a lot of history behind my explanation, one that I'm sure that you two don't want to hear and I don't want to recount. The simplified version is that a ghost from Remnant's past needs a certain Stand user to bring them back to this world."

The blonde beside me hummed in confusion. "For what?"

Headmaster Ozpin looked at the blonde dead set in the eyes. "To destroy civilization." A shutter escaped my mouth. Is it just me, or did it get a lot colder in here? My fellow Stand user rubbed the back of his neck before pulling his collar and swallowing. He let out a sigh as we both absorbed his statement. "She wants to turn back the hands of time, taking away the technological advancements we made and the cities we built and return us back to our origins. We would then fight the Grimm to the point where we will exterminate each other. The woman claims this would ascend Remnans to a higher plane of existence." He rubbed his forehead. "It's foolish."

I swallowed at those words. Losing civilization and the cities would be a bad thing indeed. But one question still stuck in my mind. I raised my hand, catching the Headmaster's attention. "But if you know about it Professor, why don't you handle it? It's likely that you are a Stand user like us. Plus, we're only aware of these powers for three days at most. Why us?"

He sighed. "I wish it could just be me. The last thing I want to do is tell you two about the scope of the situation. I'd rather quietly have you two live the rest of your days as regular Beacon students. You, Mr. Arc can pass off his Stand as a Semblance, and you, Ms. Rose can pass your Stand off as an evolution of your Semblance. However, life caught up to me. I used to have more free time to work on this mystery, but with the Vytal Festival coming up and the responsibilities of being Headmaster, I'm pressed to find an opportunity to hunt the Cupid down. My hands are tied when it comes to this."

The Headmaster looked up to us. "You two, on the other hand, are perfect candidates. Team RWBY has a big history of creating… spectacles which end with criminals being apprehended. It wouldn't be that far off to see you two getting into unusual situations. If anyone asks, Beacon can cover up any supernatural occurrences. Let any speculation of the supernatural live and die in the hands of conspiracy theorists on the CCT." He held his hand out. "I come to you not as your Headmaster, but as a fellow Stand user, who wants nothing but to keep this city and the world safe. Could you take on this burden?"

Jaune and I both looked at each other. This is a lot to take in. After all, this did go from preventing chaos in the city to the death of civilization. Should we take this? On one hand, we're just Beacon students training to fight against the Grimm! I didn't ask to get these powers, and while I don't know how Jaune got his, I'm sure he doesn't either. It would be as easy as a simple no, and then we can just live out the rest of our short lives as normal people. Or as normal as Huntsmen could be. Team RWBY wouldn't have to worry about me, Jaune doesn't have to worry about his team, we don't have to go through these brutal battles against other Stand users.

But the fate of the world is in our hands. If we walk away, we might have a couple of months to be regular kids. But then civilization would collapse, and we have to deal with that aftermath. No matter what we do, we're never going to live a normal life ever again. And what we inflict on innocent people by doing nothing… they don't deserve losing their way of life because of us. The offer the Headmaster was making isn't going to be forgiving, but it's also the one where less people have to suffer. My hand squeezed into a fist. If that's what we have to do, then we'll do it.

"I'll accept." I leaned forwards and took his hand. "I don't like this plan, but I won't let other people suffer when I can stop it from happening."

Headmaster Ozpin lowered his head. "Thank you, Ms. Rose." He turned over to Jaune. "And you, Mr. Arc? You don't have to agree to this plan."

The boy let out a long hum. "I know. At the same time, I feel like we have to do this. We're the only Stand users aware of this, and there's bound to be more coming soon." He stepped up and took the Headmaster's hand.

Our Headmaster raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you scared of the possibility of dying?"

"More than anything in the world." Jaune stared at the Headmaster with firm eyes. "But if I'm this scared, then what about the other students? What about the civilians who don't know about this? I'm going to face my fears here so that nobody else has to. You have my word as an Arc"

For a moment, I swore a teardrop slipped from Headmaster Ozpin's eyes and down his cheek. One blink later and it was gone, replaced with a face of gratitude. "I am proud to have students like you." He let go of our hands. "For now, go back and enjoy the rest of the day. I'll keep in touch by scroll, and I'll update you if I find anything." We nodded and left.

It was a silent trip down the elevator. At least it wasn't like the one we experienced this morning. Only when we left the building did Jaune start talking. "Well, I guess this is our lives now. Going after a Cupid creature in order to save the world." He looked over at me. "How do you feel about that?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not too sure. I've always wanted to just be a normal person. As great as it was to be invited to Beacon, I don't like being seen as special. Team RWBY made me feel like a normal girl until the Arrow came along. But you just have to keep going, I guess. The world needs special people to keep moving forwards. We just happen to be stepping up this time around."

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can see what you're getting at." The boy jerked up. "Oh yeah, gotta get the ammunition for my team! That's right!" He pointed in the direction of the post office. "I'm going to go get that, so see you later?"

A smile crawled up my face. "Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess!" Jaune gave me a wave as we split ways. Now that I'm alone, I let out a simple hum as I started for the dormitory. I wonder if any of my teammates are still there? Maybe we can find something to do for the rest of the day so I can distract myself from the Cupid stuff.

Movement from the corner of my eye locked my muscles in place. Who was that? I looked around, spotting a figure standing on the roof of the building. Wait a minute. I held my hand over my eyes as I looked closer. Oh hey, that's Blake! What is she doing on the roof? I let out a hmph. She can probably explain it later. But what are the odds that I would just run into one of my teammates in the open?

I cupped my hands around my mouth, about to shout before pausing. The faunus was brandishing Gambol Shroud at something or someone. What could it be? Before I could step closer, Blake started running off towards some unknown object. My eyes widened. Why is she doing this? With that question in mind, I started tailing my sister's partner.

* * *

My fingers flicked through my scroll as I sat around the reception section of the mail room. Okay, so I'm number sixty-one. How long do I have left until I can get the ammunition? I glanced up. There were several screens displaying a queue number. All of them said the same thing:  _Currently Serving Number 32._ I bit my lip in annoyance. I thought queue systems were supposed to make waiting easier. Plus, how are there twenty-nine people in front of me? We're just picking up mail! It shouldn't take this long!

Now that I think about it, we've been on number thirty-two for some time now. Who in the world is taking so much time picking up their mail? It's just envelopes and boxes! Oh, come on! Isn't living a normal life supposed to be easier than fighting to save the world? I leaned back on the plastic seat. I guess I'm just going to be waiting here for awhile. My eyes gazed up at the ceiling. A series of industrial fans looked down at me. Maybe I could catch up on my sleep here. I'm pretty sure that my scroll will vibrate when it's my turn anyways. Before I could even close my eyes, I caught a vibrant blonde mane from the corner of my eye.

Yang's face popped right in front of me with the biggest grin ever. "Oh, hey Jaune!" A yelp escaped my mouth as I tried leaning back. The chair wouldn't move any further though, forcing me to bounce back towards Ruby's sister. She sidestepped, avoiding my face before raising her hands up in protest. "Whoa! Calm down! It's just me!"

"Oh, sorry. You just startled me for a moment." We stared at each other. "Hey Yang. How has your day been?"

"It's been fine. Sleeping in late, chill day, all that good jazz. Hey, you don't mind if I sit next to you, right?" I nodded. The other blonde of our friend group cheered as she plopped down right next to me, letting out a long sigh. She hooked one of her arms around my neck and jerked me close to her. "Man, I didn't expect to see you here!"

A choking sound escaped my mouth. "Me neither. What are you doing here?"

"It's kinda a boring story," Yang sighed. "So I woke up roughly thirty minutes ago to Ruby's scroll ringing. Wherever she went, she forgot it in the dorm. I guess somebody was trying to call her or something. So I get out of bed, but I couldn't get the call in time. That's when I noticed that she got a message from the mailing room that a special package for her had just arrived. So I thought: 'Hey. I'm already out of bed. I guess I'll just go clean myself up and pick up whatever she brought. To be honest, it's probably just more modifications for Crescent Rose." The brawler went silent for a moment. Her hand stroked through her hair, deep in thought. "So why are you here?"

I gave her a shrug. "My team bought Dust ammunition yesterday, and we asked the shopkeep to deliver it here. I got the notice that it came in today. There's nothing much else to say about it."

"Okay." We had another moment of silence. Yang coughed into her hand. "Yeah, I should've done this a long time ago, but…" She turned towards me and grabbed my shoulder. "Jaune, I'm sorry about punching you during the mission on Thursday. That was pretty extreme on my part, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I shouldn't have let my temper get the better of me."

"There's nothing to apologize for, Yang. We all thought we lost Ruby. Seeing what happened was hard. I can't blame you for acting that way." I looked up. Current queue number was thirty-three. I raised my arms. "Finally! Number thirty-two took forever to get their stuff! But in all seriousness Yang, there's no need to apologize. I rather not have my face be smashed in, but I understand why you punched me. In a way, I guess I deserved it. The plan went awry, that's all I could say. Nobody could've predicted that we would have to go up against an Ancient Grimm and a King Taijitu at the same time. It was an unavoidable accident. It's nobody's fault for that."

Yang gave off a nervous chuckle. "Yeah. Right. Accident." Yet another lull in the conversation. The queue was moving a lot faster now, breaking past forty now. I turned over to Ruby's sister.

"By the way, what's your number?" She raised her eyebrows at the question. I pointed at the screen in my hands. "Mine's sixty-one."

"Oh, right! That!" She pulled out her scroll and glanced at the display. "Says here I'm right behind you with sixty-two. What are the odds we have numbers right next to each other?" A grin appeared on her face for just a moment before falling. "You know, in the back of my mind, I always wonder what's going on with Ruby. I'm supposed to be her sister, but I feel like after what happened recently, I'm not too sure about what's going on. Especially with what happened yesterday. Everything feels so… confusing! In fact, I don't think you'll believe a single word I say."

I hummed. "Go ahead and say it. It can't be that bad."

She leaned back into her seat. "You were there when everyone was getting patched up at the rec center, right?" I nodded. "Well, the thing is before that, I had an argument with Ruby. She's been pushing everyone away recently. Ever since she had to go to the nurse's office for that cut if I remember correctly. But it got really bad right after the mission. I mean she was almost actively avoiding us at that point. Then we had a confrontation when Ruby fell off some stairs, and she was yelling at me about being overprotective. I mean, it was true, but it hurt real bad to hear her say that."

"I got mad at her and stomped away. Went on a long walk to try and cool down. Didn't really work, considering I was thinking about what she said. I just couldn't get it out of my mind, no matter what I do. Then Blake goes and invites me to some movie stream, where I meet up with Ruby again." She exhaled the rest of her air and took in a new breath.

"From there we argued then… I don't know how to describe it. It was like my anger just exploded and ripped into my shoulder, biting a chunk out of me. Then I became paralyzed by some unknown force. And then, you won't believe this, Ruby fights off against some invisible lizard thingy, according to her at least. I've never seen something so weird before. Walls break for no reason, a projector flew off of the ceiling, Ruby pulls her own arm off!" She threw her hands out. "And after all of that, she wouldn't even tell us what's going on other than the fact that there's something big going on!"

She shook her head as she sighed. "Sorry about the rant. What was I trying to say with that? … I guess I wish more than anything that I could help her. And she's been hanging out with you at the infirmary and during Friday. Is there anything else you can tell me about? Something that she told you, but not me?"

Oh, so it's about that? I sighed. She's not going to get a straight answer in a long time, isn't she? I glanced down at the tiled floors. "No, not really." My eyes turned towards Yang. "But I'm sure that whatever she's doing, she's doing it for the right reasons. We both know Ruby well. Everything she does is well intentioned. Your sister isn't going to do anything unless she believes that it's the right thing to do."

She rubbed the base of her neck. "Thanks, Jaune. That doesn't help much in comforting me, but thanks anyway."

A voice appeared behind us, coughing to catch our attention. "Hey, um, Jaune is it?" We both looked behind us to see Nolan and his team standing in a rough line.

"Nolan?" I asked. "I thought you were recovering from yesterday." He shrugged.

"The nurses decided that I can go early after they pumped me with Aura boosters. My body's more or less back to normal." He stuck a thumb at his teammates. "Now I'm stuck on a leash with these guys as they drag me around for stupid chore stuff."

"Wait a minute." The boy with the purple scarf stepped forwards. I think his name was Branz or something? "How do you two know each other?"

I paled. How do I explain this? I rubbed the base of my neck. "Oh, that's a funny story…"

"We talked at that cool awesome party yesterday!" He snatched my neck. "We had a nice chat, exchanged contact info before we parted ways."

"Wait, what are you doing, Nolan?" I whispered. "That's an absolute lie!"

"Just go with it," he hissed back. "It's a small fib." He then spoke aloud to his teammates: "He came back right as I was being wheeled off."

The girl in the beanie shrugged her shoulders. "Well, alright." She held up a set of envelopes. "Can we go now? I think that's all for today."

Branz sighed. "Alright. But you, Nolan." He jabbed a finger at the teen in the jean jacket. "You're staying in front of us."

"Alright, alright." The boy raised his arms up. "I get it. You don't have to remind me about everything. I'm not that irresponsible. Oh!" He turned over to Yang. "Sorry about what happened yesterday. It was my bad."

"Huh?" Yang cocked her head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"Nolan!" His leader pointed at the ground in front of him. "We're leaving! Now get in front of me before I decide to drag you out!"

"Okay! Okay!" The boy in blue turned towards us. "Well, that's my cue. Catch you again, Jaune!"

Yang blinked once, then twice as we watched team BRNZ leave. "… I'm confused. Why did he apologize to me?"

My shoulders flew up in a shrug. "I don't know," I lied. My eyes looked at the queue. Sixty-one. My scroll rumbled soon afterward in my pocket. "Well, my number's on the screen. I'm going to have to take this to the lockers and store them, so I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"See ya later, Jaune!" Yang waved. "It's great talking to you!" My eyes glanced towards the floor as my smile dropped. Yeah, it was a good talk.

* * *

My arms burned in fury as I pulled myself up yet another rooftop. Man, I'm so tired! I glanced up at the faunus girl. She's still making her way around the rooftops a couple of buildings away from me. I groaned as I let my head hit the top of the roof. How does Blake manage to do this on a regular basis? I wish I had that kind of stamina. But then again, didn't she say that she used to be a part of the White Fang? I guess that does explain how she manages to hop buildings like nothing and still be stealthy in the process. She must've done this all the time!

I slapped myself a couple of times. No thinking, Ruby! Gotta focus on figuring out this mystery. I pulled myself up to a crouching position. From the looks of it, we're getting pretty close to the dormitories. It's going to be a lot harder for anyone to sneak around that area, especially considering how all of the students are probably hanging out there at this time of day. No matter what happens, Blake is going to have to break off that weird chase of hers.

Wait a minute… I squinted as Blake made a sharp right for the dorm rooms. Hmm… what's going on? I should get closer to my teammate. With the help of my Semblance, I zipped across the rooftops, cutting down the distance between me and Blake. It was there where I noticed that she's chasing after something dark. The dark figure turned around and blew a raspberry at the girl. My eyes widened. It can't be… is it? The Cupid made a motion to chuckle before diving into one of the open windows of the dorm building.

It is! I can't believe my luck! I just happened to run into the Cupid without even trying! The heavens have given me another chance to catch the thing! But if it's here, then— oh no! It's going to try and use the Arrow again! And the building's filled with potential students! Blake scaled a tree and threw herself into the same window, going after the creature. With that, I pushed myself to run even faster. I can't let that happen! Don't have time to think about why Blake's after the Cupid! Just have to take it down here! And I have to do it alone this time. Jaune's off on his errand. I hoped that I'm enough to bring it down.

My feet planted on the ground right next to the dormitories. I could hear a lot of noises from the window. That's good; that means that the Cupid hasn't left yet. Despite that reassurance, I frowned as I stared up at the second story window. For some reason, this feels familiar… why is this bothering me? The curtain blew around in the wind, revealing a giant cut mark down it. I gasped. It just jumped into my room! So that means that—

Blake's scream escaped the window, followed by Weiss'. My heart dropped at their cries. A ton of steam started to escape out of the opening. I have to get up there quick! My feet moved before my mind did, running up the tree before bouncing off of it. I snatched the ledge of the window right before I slipped off. "Blake! Weiss!"

The heiress answered: "Ruby!" With that I pulled myself up into the room. The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of heat coming from the building. I broke into a sweat. Wow, it's so humid in here! I looked around the room. Most of the room remained unchanged, although it looked like the feet of the furniture were charring up. Various burn marks lined the walls, by what I'm not too sure.

Everybody inside the room was on Yang's bed. Zwei let out a small whine as he backed away from the edge of the bed, trying to put himself behind Weiss. For some reason, he looked like he was dunked into a tank of water. My partner had Myrtenaster in her left hand, pointed at the Cupid on the opposite side of the room. It giggled as it spun itself around the wall, pointing the Arrow out all the way. It acted like a demented roulette pointer in a way. Sweat rained down her face and skin, leaving stains on her soaked expensive clothing.

The one that shocked me the most was Blake. She had a shocked look on her face as she clambered at a hole drilled right into her throat. For some strange reason, instead of blood, a dark substance dripped out. I gasped in horror. Blake's been hit. As soon as Blake placed her hands on the wound, Weiss held them down as best as possible. She also looked drenched in water.

"Weiss!" I threw myself onto the bookshelf, sending the books sprawling to the ground. "What just happened—"

"Don't get any closer!" She threw her sword arm out, stopping me right there. "No matter what you do, don't step on the floor." The heiress brushed a bead of sweat out of her eyes. "As silly as this might sound, if you value your life, do not step on the carpet. The floor is literally lava."

My eyebrows flew up in confusion. Literally? I looked at the red carpet. Wait, wasn't it supposed to be black? And didn't we have a round rug lying on top of that? What happened to it? I leaned a bit closer to inspect it. Huh, it seems like it's glowing red hot—

A scream escaped my mouth as a giant snake-like creature exploded out from the carpet, launching glowing hot liquid towards my face. I dove over to Weiss' bed in an instant, avoiding the fizzling droplets that flew over me. The curtain hissed and sizzled as the molten carpet liquid hit it, leaving a burn mark on the fabric. Oh my gods! She was right! The floor is lava!

All I could do was gape at the creature that swam through the carpet. It looked like an overgrown tapeworm. The round head had four sucker looking thing on the side. I could make out trace amounts of lava within those suckers. On the top of its head was a ring of hooks aimed outwards. I shuttered. Those things look like they'll hurt. On its ivory body I could make out letters on each of its segment spelling out "Down Under." That creature was half a meter across! Who knows how long it is lengthwise! How am I supposed to go against this thing?

**「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** let out an ear-piercing screech, sending ripples through the lava. Rose appeared behind me. "Are you ready for another fight, Rose?"

" _If that is what you desire,"_  she responded, curving her back around the back of my head. My fists clamped shut as I stared down the tapeworm Stand swimming through the lava. I've might've lost you before, but you've made a big mistake this time around, Cupid. You gave me another chance. And this time, I'll make sure that I'll take that Arrow out of your hands.

⇐ _ **TO BE CONTINUED= August 4, 2017**_

* * *

**Nolan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 1**

I rolled my eyes as the rest of team BRNZ walked towards the dormitories. Despite the fact that I'm in trouble with them at the moment, I have to admit that I kinda like having them here with me. Branz might be uptight, but he means well. Guess that's the responsibility of being the team leader. Roy is chill all around. I never had a moment where he couldn't keep a cool head for the rest of the team. May is also a great person to be around. She doesn't talk much, she keeps to herself, and she's a good shot. She's like the little sis I always wanted to have.

Oh, wait. I fiddled with my shades for a moment. Branz is the uptight one, Roy's the chill one, May's the quiet one… Does that make me the crazy irresponsible person on the team? … It's pretty obvious what that answer is.

Before we knew it, we all plopped down onto all of our beds and let out a collective sigh. I looked up. "So is there anything interesting in the mail, Branz?"

The boy in purple shifted through the letters. "There's no swooning girls who want a piece of you, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh, ha ha. That's funny." I threw myself flat on the bed, looking directly at the ceiling. "No, I was asking if the Shade Headmaster decided to kick you off the team and instate me as the new glorious leader of team BRNZ."

"Your sarcasm is biting." Branz monotoned. "Really hurt me right here, right in the heart. But you would be a terrible leader. You know the first thing you'll do as leader will be to pimp out Roy and hope he'll bring you some sloppy seconds."

Roy chuckled from the other side of the room. "Yeah, he's probably right." The boy in dreadlocks looked up from his scroll. "You know now that I think about it, it's pretty funny that you harp about being one hell of a lady killer. But as much as you talk about women, you're the only boy virgin here."

"What the—" I gave my teammate a mock glare. "Roy, you're supposed to be taking the neutral side! I thought you were supposed to be the cool one!"

"Hey, for you the neutral side is your side."

"It's also the best side, thank you very much. I'm sorry that you savages don't care about the thrill of the hunt." I pulled myself up to a seated position. "Plus, why are you picking on me? Isn't May a virgin too?" I gestured to the girl in our team, who was zoning everyone out with the help of earphones.

Branz gave a small smile as he kept sorting through the letters. "Well for one thing, Roy and I have someone waiting back home. We don't care about the hunt because we have people we care about and we call regularly."

I coughed into my hand. "I heard those calls get a little intense sometimes. I bet your partners like to get a little heated late at night—"

"Shut up. Two, May doesn't care about having sex. She's not opening up for any man or woman, so it's easy to pick on the virgin loser who can't score rather than the virgin who wants to stay one." His eyebrows flew up as he picked out a letter. "Speaking of which. What do we have here?" The boy sniffed it. "Hmm… Zesty lemon and lavender combined with cedar. Interesting…"

"What?" I asked. "Why the hell are you sniffing that?"

"It's a love letter." Branz flipped it over and showed it to me. "Even has the nice heart stickers and all that."

"Wait, what? A love letter?" I leaned forward as my hand reached out for it. "Is it for me?"

My team leader jerked it away from my grasp. "Of course not. Don't get your hopes up. No, this is a surprise for sure. Hey May?" The girl didn't respond, still scrolling through her device while bobbing her head to her own little world. "May!" With that she pulled out one of her earbuds and looked at Branz, adjusting the lock of hair in front of her face.

"Yes?"

"Letter for you." Our sniper snatched it out of the air, a perfect toss from Branz. "You should read it out loud, let us all know."

"Okay…" May started peeling at the heart sticker. "Is this supposed to be a love letter? I don't know why they couldn't just find my number and texted me, but…" She yanked the letter out. The parchment looked old-fashioned, being slight yellow instead of the usual white. The girl in the beanie coughed into her hand before starting.

"To May, the love of my life. What can I say to describe the feelings in my bosom? Before you came along I lived life day by day, focusing only on the present. But the moment I saw you, I was whisked away by your charm. You're like a candlelight in the darkness, for only when you entered into my life can I see the truth."

She took a quick breath before continuing: "I love you very, very much, May. You showed me the meaning of love not with your words but with your care. I love the way you walk. It sends chills down my spine every time you smile, no matter how small it may be. I know your shy nature doesn't let you open up to everyone, but let me open up to you. I love you, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Signed, your secret admirer."

Everyone stayed silent the moment we finished reading the note. I blinked once, twice before bursting out into laughter. "Oh my gods, that's so cheesy! I can't believe somebody thought about writing this and sending it by mail! What the— even I'm not that pathetic!"

Branz snorted. "Says the guy who actually went to a phone book, randomly circled the names of ten women and called them to ask them out on a date."

"And I got twenty lien for that! It was a fair bet, although I did get beaten up by the girls that actually showed up. And the ones that didn't. And their mothers— Yeah, that just sucked overall." I pulled myself back up. "But a love letter? Dude doesn't even realize he's going after an asexual girl! Man, I can't wait to see his face once May drops the truth on him!"

"Actually, I think it's cute how they put the effort into writing this down." May sighed as she placed the letter back into the envelope. "In fact, I feel a little sad having to turn this person down. Just a little. Is this supposed to be someone back in Shade?" She flipped the envelope over. "Huh. Beacon postage."

At this Roy joined the conversation. "Wait, so you're saying that the supposed admirer is here in Beacon? Right now?" All of us looked at each other.

A smile crawled up my face as I rubbed my hands. "You know what this calls for? It's betting season again. So, how much is everybody going to put in for 'the boy who has a crush on May Zedong?'"

**=TBC=**


	16. Down Under

My eyes squinted as they stared at the monstrosity that was  **「** **DOWN UNDER.** **」** The humongous tapeworm swam across the lava ground, sending little ripples that washed over the legs of our beds. Occasionally it would stop and tilt its head around as if it was looking for something. A fountain of sweat dripped down my face. It didn't help me stay cool at all. The glow of the ground let off a dim glow that lit up the room with an eerie orange light. With the shake of its head, the tapeworm dove into the carpet and disappeared from sight.

I glanced at the other enemy in the room. The Cupid giggled at me, crossing its legs in the air before spinning the Arrow around. This is going to be difficult trying to deal with a Stand user and that thing at the same time. I'm going to need to choose between the two. Which one is more important to deal with right now… I looked at my Stand.

"Go after the Cupid behind me. Don't give it a chance to escape."  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** nodded, shooting after the Grimm. It screeched, diving out of the way just as she made a new crater on the wall. Rose said nothing to this, twisting in the air towards the fleeing monster. A look of displeasure washed over the Grimm baby's face as it started fleeing from my Stand. Hopefully, that should buy me time.

While that's being taken care of, gotta check on the rest of the girls. My legs tensed up under me before I launched myself off of Weiss' bed. The tapeworm erupted from the surface, hitting me with tiny droplets of lava. A scream escaped my mouth as I flew through the air. Oh hot! Hot! Tears ran down my face feeling my skin sizzle and char from the droplets. Instead of a perfect landing like I wanted, I crashed into Yang's bed back first and rolled before crashing into the wall.

Zwei and Weiss yipped, jerking away at my arrival. The moment I stopped, I smacked away the already hardening pieces of molten rock. "Ow! Ow! Agh…" I moaned, rubbing my sore back. I think I could make out the smell of my burning flesh. "That hurt… Oh right!" I turned towards my partner. "Weiss! You have to tell me everything! What happened here?"

"Wha— I don't understand any of this!" The heiress grimaced as she glanced at the state of the room. "What is going on? This doesn't make any sense! It's all so… so bizarre!"

I snatched her shoulder. "Weiss, I just need you to say it as it happened. Don't worry, I'll understand it."

She pressed her lips together in a line. "... Okay." The tip of Myrtenaster followed the Cupid bouncing around. "Nobody was in the room when I woke up, so I decided to do a bit of studying. Then a couple of minutes ago, that— that thing jumped through our window, nearly poking my eye out with that arrow! Zwei went berserk at the monster right afterward, barking at it nonstop. Blake flew through the window a couple of seconds later, swinging Gambol Shroud at it! Then the figure pulled out this arrow and threw it at Zwei, and it hit him in—" She winced, covering her mouth with her free hand. It looked like she was turning green. "It hit him in the—!"

"What?" Zwei doesn't look hurt! He's up and running! Plus, if he's the Stand user, then he wouldn't be attacking us right now! Zwei is a good boy! He wouldn't do this to people who love him! ... Would he? I grabbed the girl again. "Where did it hit him? You have to tell me!"

Weiss' face glowed red as she looked away. "The— the butt." Silence overtook the room at the statement. She continued: "There was a little something sticking out, and I thought it was just a tiny piece of dried poop or something. But then that… that tapeworm shot right out and dove into the carpet. Right after that, the carpet turned into lava and… you know the rest."

My mind tried to process this as fast as possible. This means that Zwei isn't a Stand user. The tapeworm must be the Stand and the Stand user, kinda similar to Jaune now that I think about it. I mentally let out a sigh of relief. I don't have to beat up my dog so that we don't die. It doesn't make fighting  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** any easier, though.

I let my mind wander for a bit. Besides the obvious life-threatening situation we were in right now, that also means that my corgi has a ton of adult tapeworms trying to escape his body. I should ask Yang to order that medicine again before the tapeworms make him malnourished.

And at the same time, I wanted to laugh at my partner and friend for her prudishness. Really? She gets flustered saying 'butt'? And she made it sound a lot worse than it actually is! Oh man, if it wasn't for the fact that we're going to die, this is pretty funny. This is going to be something we're going to hold over her head!

But now's not the time for friendly blackmail. That can wait until we put down **「** **DOWN UNDER.** **」** I took a quick peek at the red-hot carpet below us. So far no sight of the worm aside from that eruption from earlier. That's good. It means that we can do a bit of planning first. I started by taking a look at the downed faunus. Her ragged breathing started to become more rhythmic. The hole in her throat started to pull itself back together. "Whew," I let out, wiping my forehead. "Blake's going to be fine."

My partner let out a sputter, looking at me. "Fine? How? She has a hole in her throat!"

"It's closing up! Look!" A look of disbelief formed on her face as she saw the wound repair itself. The heiress raised one of her eyebrows. I waved a hand at her in dismissal. "Don't think about it too much, it's just going to get more confusing. That being said, you should stay away from the edge whenever possible. There's a lava monster within the floor, and it's trying to throw lava at us."

"A lava monster?" she repeated. Weiss wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion. "So you're saying that random lava spurt wasn't due to chance?" I mentally slapped myself. Right, Weiss isn't a Stand user. Of course she wouldn't see  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** erupting from the ground. To her, it probably looked like sudden geysers.

"Yes, that was due to a lava monster. No, I'm not making this up!" I whined as she opened her mouth in protest. "Only a few people can see it! But we can focus on that later." I looked at her relatively non-sweaty face. "How are you not sweating? It's so hot in here."

"Huh? Oh! I should give you this." Weiss dug through her skirt pockets and tossed a vial of ice Dust at me. "Ruby, rub a thin layer of this on your skin. The ice Dust has a high boiling point, meaning it'll keep us relatively cool in here. That'll buy us time until we figure out what we need to do to stop this 'lava monster.' If that's a real thing." I nodded, doing as she asked. Almost immediately I felt relief from the overbearing heat of the room. "You might want to ration that," Weiss warned. "I have a lot of ice Dust, but I didn't get a chance to get the vials from under my bed. It's deep under there, and well..." She gestured to the bubbling floor. "That happened. So all we have is the vial you're holding and the one chambered in Myrtenaster."

"Got it." I pocketed the gift. My mind raced to figure out what we can do. I glanced at my Stand. Rose was still going after the Cupid. However, the Grimm was a lot faster than I expected, dodging every single blow that Rose threw at it with ease. It let out a smug giggle as more and more craters formed against our wall. "Weiss, do you think you can get any closer to that creature?"

She gave me a frown. "I'm not too sure. You're capable of jumping around the room without a problem. I don't have that kind of dexterity. It's going to be hard for me to get to my bed, let alone get close enough to the baby to do anything. It's too dangerous using my glyphs. It's too crowded, and I might fall into the lava if I mess up. And I've thought about just cooling the ground and creating rock, but the one platform I made lasted maybe ten seconds before it was swallowed up by the lava. How would I be able to get to that thing?"

A series of books fell into the lava, catching my attention. I watched as they slowly floated towards the door. Despite the heat of the lava it was sitting on, there seems to be no effect on the reading material. That's weird… paper is easily flammable. Wouldn't this thing burst into flames?

Wait. Weren't the beds floating on the lava as well? They're not burning as well, and they're made of wood! My mind started cranking at the realization. Weiss was going at this wrong. She doesn't need to create rocky platforms; everything around us can serve as platforms!

I turned towards my partner. "Okay, hear me out Weiss," I started. "I don't think you need to turn the lava into rock." I pointed at the mass of books. "Look at those. They're not burning. I bet we can use them as stepping stones to get where we need to! Watch!" Before she could say anything, I threw myself onto a pair of Blake's novels. They rocked and bobbed in the fiery liquid, forcing me to throw my hands out to balance myself. I smiled and pointed at the books. "See! You can totally do it! No lava burns whatsoever! We won't be hurt unless we actually touch the ground!" With a grunt, I leaped onto my partner's bed and signaled over to her. "Now you try it!"

My partner blinked once, then twice before sighing and taking the leap. A yelp escaped her mouth as she landed on the books. Her hands flew out immediately as the novel stepping stones rocked within the fiery liquid. I held my breath. Every second felt like it dragged on for an eternity as Weiss righted her balance. "Okay… okay. I can do this. This isn't so bad. If I take my time going through this, I should be on the other side in no time—

The both of us paled when the liquid Weiss stood on started rumbling. "Whoa!" Weiss yelped as she threw out her hands. The edge of her skirt nearly dipped into the lava. "What's—" Before she could finish her sentence, the massive tapeworm broke out from the carpet lava, showering the girl with the red hot liquid. My partner's face twisted in a panic.

"Weiss!" I started for the edge of the bed. The calm, focused look reformed on my partner's face. With the click of Myrtenaster's striking hammer, a cloud of frost shot out from Weiss' rapier, forming an ice fog in front of her. The lava droplets upon touching the icy cloud cooled into tiny, crystalline fragments that my partner knocked away with a couple of swings from her sword. She brought herself to a ready stance, bending her knees and holding the hilt of Myrtenaster close to her face. It's like she was never fazed in the first place.

"Ruby, is the monster still in front of me?" The piercing point of Myrtenaster drifted slightly off course from the monster's body as she glanced in its general direction. "If this is the thing that caused the carpet to burn, then it might be easier for us to take it down right now. It's going to be easier to move if the carpet went back to normal. We might be able to get to the baby monster if we hurry—"

"Don't!" Blue eyes glanced at me with confusion and worry. "I promise you, you're not going to hurt it with Myrtenaster. Normal weapons don't work on these kinds of monsters!"

"What?" She threw her glance towards the last place  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** emerged from the floor. "Then what does?"

"It's nothing that you have!" I thrust my index finger towards the Cupid. It growled in frustration as Rose kept slamming fists into the wall, keeping it stuck in the corner. "Trust me when I say that you're better off focusing on the baby! The baby's creating all of these creatures you can't see!"  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** dove back into the lava. The only indication of where it is in the lava is the occasional ripple. Weiss tensed up as she kept Myrtenaster pointed at a moving ripple. I tried signalling over to her. "Just get over here and—"

The tapeworm roared as it broke through the water, opening its hook mouth to clamp over Weiss' chest. I stepped forwards in a panic. "Weiss, get out of the way! Rose!" In a split second, my Stand zipped over to her and shoved the girl back onto the bed where Blake and Zwei were. Seconds later  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** slammed into Rose, driving its hooks into her torso and smashing her into the front door. A circle of puncture wounds pierced my own torso, followed quickly by geysers of blood bursting out and painting the bed red. As for me, I slammed right into the tail end of Weiss' bed, causing me to spit out a glob of the red liquid.

"Oh my gods!" Weiss got up and crawled to the edge of Yang's bed. Her face paled in shock. "Ruby!"

I let out a roar of pain alongside Rose, who sent out a barrage of punches into the head of the tapeworm Stand. Several dents formed right above the suckers of  **「** **DOWN UNDER.** **」** I was hoping it would cause the tapeworm to let go. The Stand didn't release me. I can't tell if it was even hurt by my punches. Instead, it started swinging its head side to side, swinging my Stand around. I yelped as my body moved along with it, bringing me dangerously close to the edge of the bed. I can feel the heat radiating off of the ground, just waiting to scorch me.

No! I'm not going to fall in! I burst my arms and legs into rose petals and forced them to reform through the footboard, stopping my body from moving with the tapeworm. Only my head hung off from the bed mattress. The hooks sank deeper into my stomach, forcing a cry out of my mouth. I have to power through it. It's not an ideal situation, but it'll work for now.

My eyes looked towards the trapped  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES.** **」** Okay, how am I going to escape the hooks of the tapeworm? Let's see… I glanced at the wound marks on me. The points move outwards from a circle, kinda like a barb on an arrow. It allows for easy penetration while at the same time keeping the tapeworm hooked in. Following the arrow train-of-thought, this is why most hunters choose to either push the arrow past through the flesh or cut a bigger hole to pull an arrow out of their prey. Just yanking the arrow out would cause the hooks to rip out a piece of flesh.

Rose already tried forcing the tapeworm to let go, but its clear that that's not going to happen anytime soon. And pushing the worm through my body would most likely kill me. I bit my lip. What can I try that would— Wait! Arrows aren't retractable; the arrowheads are firmly in place. But tapeworms are organic, which means that they must have a way to let go— My Stand wrapped her hands around the muzzle of  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** and squeezed. I cried in victory as I felt the hook retract from Rose and the pressure relieved off my stomach. I can just free myself!

With a firm kick from Rose, the worm flew back into the lava. It landed with a splash, forcing me to pull my head away from the splashback. I freed my limbs from the footboard, got back up, and pulled my Stand back to heal my wounds. My face crinkled as pain washed over me. Okay, now that I'm out of the grasp of **「** **DOWN UNDER,** **」** I can go back to focusing on the— My eyes widened. Where did the Cupid go?

Weiss let out a cry, prompting me to turn towards her. Several jabs flew towards the giggling baby Grimm as it dove towards the girl, aiming its Arrow for her chest. A quick riposte knocked the Cupid to the side, yet it dove away before my partner would retaliate. Her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Zwei let out a whine as he backed himself into the headboard of Yang's bed.

"It's so hard to move!" the heiress declared as she waved her sword at the Grimm standing opposite from her on the bed. "Ruby, give me some help! This thing's trying to stab me!"

"I'm trying!" At this point most of the pierced muscle was back to normal. There was still a welt in the shape of a circle on my torso. I think that's enough for now. "Don't worry Weiss, I'm coming!  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " At my cry the white cloaked Stand reappeared behind me just as the Cupid lunged for her yet again. She held up Myrtenaster, ready for another stab; however, the creature chose to twist in the air, place its feet on the bottom of Blake's bed, and push off. A gasp escaped my partner's mouth as the Arrow made a small cut on the back of her right hand. It let out a titter before jumping out of the window.

"Ow!" Myrtenaster fell onto the bed as Weiss nursed her hand. My gut wrenched. No! The Cupid got away again! There's no way we can lose it twice in a day! I have to go after it! I bit my lip. At the same time, both Blake and Weiss are now hit with the Arrow. My partner's going to lose consciousness any time now, and who knows how long it's going to take until Blake wakes up! I grinded my teeth against each other. You win this time, Cupid. We'll get you next time. I turned back towards my partner who had her left hand on her forehead, rubbing it gently.

"Oh gods," she whispered. "What's going on?" Dust crystals started forming on her back of her hand, slowly crawling up her arm. Is she going to be crystallized? Weiss looked at me with a dazed stare. "It's so cold all of a sudden. Am I dying?" My partner stuck her hand out to me. "Ruby—" Her eyes rolled into her head before she fell forward. Zwei, the good dog he is, barked before biting the back of Weiss' shirt, preventing her from falling into the lava. With a growl he pulled the girl back and set her on the bed. The corgi let out a sorrowful whine as he licked the girl's face, which is quickly being overcome with Dust crystals.

A tear ran down my eye as I made my jump, landing on Yang's bed yet again. My dominant hand snatched Myrtenaster as I turned around. Weiss isn't going to need the weapon now that she's out of it, but this might be the difference between me surviving  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** and dying a fiery death.I fumbled with the weapon a couple of times, making sure that everything's working as intended. The cylinder spun around a couple of times before stopping on the ice Dust. Alright, now to figure out how to stop this tapeworm from causing any more havoc.

I glanced at the glowing red carpet. It's not revealing any of its movements, which means… I'm going to have to try and bait it to reveal itself. Using the books as stepping stones worked the first time, but that's not going to give me enough room to work with. I need something bigger so I can do a bit of dodging. I looked at the red fabric that I sat on. Maybe… But I shouldn't disturb everybody else. My hand reached over to Blake's bed and snatched her blanket. With a grunt I tossed it at a random empty spot.

The warm fabric floated through the air before landing on the ground. It made a couple of ripples in the lava; otherwise it didn't burn in any way. Perfect! I flung myself out, landing on the makeshift raft. The blanket sunk a bit into the lava due to my weight, but no lava poured into it. I wonder why is that. Maybe it's because molten rock is way denser than most things. My legs shook under the ripples of the body of water as I pulled myself up to a standing position. Okay, this isn't as stable as I thought it would be, but it'll do for now.

**「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** reemerged from the lava bed, curling around my little raft as its body entered and exited the carpet. It reminded me of those mythical stories of water dragons along the coast of Mistral; how these dragons are long snake-like creatures and swam through the waters in that exact manner. I held Myrtenaster out at the Stand surrounding me as Rose followed the movements of its head. Dad said that there's only one place that matters to a tapeworm: the head. That's where all of the important nervous system stuff are. If the neck or head gets damaged, then the worm can't live.

Its tail slapped against the surface, sending a splash of burning lava towards me. An ice fog formed in front of me, flash freezing the droplets into harmless rocks. Rose in turn flew at the head and slammed it against Weiss' bedpost. It shrieked at the impact, writhing in a fury. There we go! I can finally get enough force behind every punch now! My Stand pulled a snow-white fist back, ready to start a beatdown.

A sudden impact to the blanket offset my balance, sending me falling down onto the red fabric. I looked down. The tail! It's slamming against the makeshift raft. Lava started pouring into Blake's blanket. Another use of ice Dust froze the hot liquid in place. Whew, that was close. I felt something wrapping around my torso. The tapeworm was wrapping its midsection around Rose! It tightened its grip, forcing the air out of my lungs. Every gasp of air became harder as the worm strangled me through Rose. My Stand in turn let go of the tapeworm's head. The maw of **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** let out another screech as it jerked itself down into the lava, bringing Rose alongside with it.

I threw Myrtenaster out and fired a stream of ice below Rose's feet. The lava crackled as it froze into stone. My Stand smacked into it a second later. I gritted my teeth as I felt the impact on my legs. "Rose! Get out of there!" She complied, karate-chopping the area between two of the segments. They separated easily, freeing the head of  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** and sending it falling into the drink. The Stand then held its body up to block the splashback. I tsked. Didn't get its head; it's still alive and swimming. At least more than half of its body is chopped off at least, so I don't need to worry about being strangled.

A glance at the chamber revealed that most of the ice Dust's already gone; there's maybe enough in it for one more blast. There's still the vial that Weiss gave me earlier. I'll use this last shot and then reload the—

At this time,  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** burst out of the lava and screeched, sending a wave of lava towards me. My hand moved on instinct, hardening the lava in place using Myrtenaster. I flicked the cylinder out as I heard the weapon click, launching the empty vial out. I pulled my other vial from my pocket as Rose flew through the ice fog for a surprise attack. Yet I don't feel her hitting anything. Huh? Where did it go? It was right in front of me a moment ago, where could it have— A shadow cast over me. Oh—

I scrambled to the side as the worm landed onto the blanket, flooding the raft with the carpet lava. The Dust vial flew out of my hand and rolled across the carpet until it hit one of our desks. Way out of my reach. I let out a scream as some of the lava washed over my left leg, searing the flesh to my clothing. Oh gods! I separated the affected limb and flopped onto the unaffected part of the blanket. Despite my efforts, the burning sensation wouldn't stop. I tried to pull back Rose only to find out that she can't return. Does that mean I have to be whole in order to regain my Aura? But I can't let the fire consume me!

The ice vial lay out of reach of my hands. My eyes widened. Wait! I have Rose! She can grab it and cool down the lava hitting my leg! My Stand zipped over to the life-saving Dust, only to get grabbed in the air again my the tapeworm Stand. A familiar wound formed on my back this time, shooting out a gush of blood as it pinned me down. Rose smashed into the wall close to my bed, snatching one of the ropes holding the bed up before  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** jerked her into the hot drink. In the other hand she held up the ice Dust. My eyes widened. Yes! Now if only—

**「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** raised its midsection over me, preventing Rose from pouring the ice Dust onto my burning leg. Oh come on! You can't do this to me! As if it was rubbing salt in the wound, the tapeworm Stand slapped the side of my blanket raft. My burning leg was flung into me, setting my torso on fire as well. A cry escaped my mouth as I felt my everything burn, from my skin to my lungs.

My head flopped onto the blanket as a small stream of tears ran down my face. At this point most of my body was engulfed by the flames. Is this over for me? Am I going to die like this: burning in a pool of lava, pierced in the back by a massive tapeworm? Oh gods, I failed you guys. I let the Cupid escape, it's going to get everybody killed! To think that this is how the world ends: with me burning up to a crisp while some tapeworm pins me down—

A groan caught my attention. I glanced over at the bed where everybody was laying and let out a gasp. It was more of a rasp than anything, but it was a rasp of hope. I might make it through this.

After all, Blake was stirring.

* * *

I found myself laying on the ground of an empty street. There was the smell of something… something awful. Like the smell of cement was combined with something more metallic. There's something metallic in my mouth as well. I think there's something in my hands, like one of those protest signs I used to carry as a kid. A groan escaped my mouth as I pushed myself up to a seated position. Ugh, where am I? All I can make out are some buildings and some kind of street. My hand moved to wipe something wet out of my eyes. What's on my face?

With my vision cleared, I blinked a couple of times. A gasp escaped as I stared at the gruesome scene in perfect clarity. Several bodies lay on the road; both faunus and human. There was a big variety of them, all from different backgrounds whether rich or poor. All of them with the same dead look in their eyes paired with the same look of horror. Blood flowed on the ground, almost like a river. Thankfully it wasn't traveling in my direction, but the current of the red waters looked swift. I could make out distant sounds of crying from somewhere. Cries of sorrow, of anger, all of the negative emotions every Remnan tries to hold back. Even from a distance, they threatened to burrow in my mind. I gasped as I took in every single thing in front of me. What is this? Is this… the riot that happened when I was twelve? Why am I here?

"Blake, look at the sight in front of us." I looked up at the sound of the voice. My father looked at me with sorrow as he kneeled next to me. He surveyed the field of broken bodies. What in the world? Why is my father here? "So many lives taken in the name of supremacy. Both from the humans and from our own. All of this fighting, all of this callous violence; it does nothing to drive humans and faunus apart. Is this the world you wanted? One where good, innocent people die for the sins of the past?"

"Dad." A tear ran down my face. "What are you talking about? I gave that life up. I'm no longer with the White Fang. This isn't me anymore." A mountain of books started piling around us, filled with various stories from my giant library at home. Didn't I get rid of those several years ago? Why are they piling up here out of all places? Why is it raining books? Is this a dream? My hands covered up my ears. My cat ears, just exposed to the world. "I just… I just want everybody to find some kind of happiness. For our people."

"Hmm… Everyone deserves happiness. Who would say that they didn't want it for someone else?" My breath hitched as he combed through my hair. It's been so long since he did that, but I feel like I need to pull away from him. He continued:"But running from the responsibilities of our people to play hero won't help us in the long term. Is it not our job to keep holding the burden of our people, no matter what? As the de-facto leaders of all faunus? Look at us, Blake. We're not supposed to be warriors to fight and win our happiness. We're people, and we need everyone to see it. People should want us to be part of their lives, to share that joy with us."

"Those humans don't want us." Another voice appeared on the other side of me. I glanced over to see Adam walk through the blood river with a cocky strut. His pants were already stained red. Red liquid ran down his equally crimson blade. "They choose to push us away, belittle us, treat us like the dregs of society. And they're surprised that we fight back? This is where they cross the line. They won't give us the respect and acknowledgment we asked for so long. The humans will only get it when they experience the cruelty we face." Adam scoffed as he looked at my father, wiping the blood on his sleeves before sheathing the weapon. "We're done trying to step up to their level. They don't care. We're going to bring them down to our level. Only then will we be happy."

"Blake." I looked forwards to see my mother sitting on one of the piles, reading a book. Okay, what's going on? This is... huh? She looked at me with amber eyes. "How do you find your happiness?" Before I could answer, she closed the book in front of her. "For me, happiness is found. You can find happiness in the fantasy of a book or in living life. People find them in doing something bigger than themselves or they can find it by doing the littlest deeds. But I look into my daughter's eyes, and I don't see a trace of happiness. You're unsatisfied." She looked into my eyes as she slipped down onto the floor. "You don't know what makes you happy in the end. But every journey starts somewhere. So I ask, how do you find happiness?"

My mouth opened as all three figures stood around me. The three biggest people in my life before Beacon. "I— I don't know anymore." I started crawling away from them. Why are they all talking philosophy to me? I don't need them. "It's— I can't see it. Please don't talk about this anymore." They stepped forwards. "Stay back!" I yelled, throwing a hand towards them.

My other hand slipped on a loose stack of books, and I fell into the stack of novels behind me. The open pages clamped around me, turning my flesh and bones into ink. What the— How do I get out? I writhed around as I was consumed by the tomes. Oh gods! I tried to pull myself away without any effect. It's like I've lost my hands! Am I gonna die? One last book opened wide, placing my head within its pages. One last thought popped in my mind. What makes me happy? My team appeared in my mind before the book slammed down on my head, flattening it and bringing me into darkness.

Moments later I found myself in pitch darkness. I felt the fluffiness of a blanket press against my face. The sounds of roaring and fearful whining registered in my ears. A charred smell entered my nose. Huh? Am I in my room? It's like something's going on, and bad too. I groaned as I opened my eyes. What happened?

My eyes widened as the events of the day repeated in my head. That's right! Ruby woke up early today, awakening me in the process. After that talk yesterday, I was suspicious, so I tailed her and Jaune. They were talking about some weird stuff about these… Stands. I lost them when they went into that manhole, so I waited for an airbus to the city. And then there was the baby thing that they ran into at the docks! I followed it all the way back into our room when— Oh gods! I threw my head up in a panic.

The entire room was in chaos. Several books were strewn all over the floor. Their hardback covers were charred for some reason. A whine to my side revealed the dog rubbing at Weiss. I let out a gasp. Dust crystals covered both the skin and the fabric on her right hand. She looked deathly pale. "Weiss…" I muttered, leaning myself over her. "What happened to you?"

"Blake!" Was that Ruby? I turned over to see my leader lying upon a blanket. Her left leg had been chopped off and is now burning in what seems to be a pool of lava. The girl herself had a giant circular wound on her back which is bleeding out fast. And she was completely engulfed by the fire. She gritted her teeth through a lot of pain as her pale skin started turning ash black. "You gotta help me. I'm not going to make it at this rate."

"Ruby, what's going on?" A gasp escaped my mouth as I saw a white-cloaked figure struggle to maintain their hold on Ruby's bed while holding a Dust vial. A massive tapeworm-like creature sunk its hooks into them, struggling and tearing at their back. Another spurt of blood escaped my friend and leader.

"Get the ice Dust in Rose's hand and use a bit to extinguish the lava on my leg." Ruby pointed at the vial within the cloaked figure's hand. "And don't step on the carpet; it's going to burn you to a crisp because it's lava."

"Wha—" I started backing away. "No… this can't be happening!"

"You have to, Blake! That's the only remaining ice Dust that we have easy access to!" She looked over to the figure. "Rose! Toss the Dust to Blake!" The hooded figure nodded, throwing the vial towards me. My eyes widened at the move. It's going to fall short! I lunged forwards to catch it, and just barely managed to snatch it out of the air. However, I found myself tilting towards the burning red lava below me.

A yelp escaped my mouth as I felt something tug at my emotions. With that, I felt something pull away from my back, grabbing my bed and stopping me from falling forwards. A gasp appeared from my throat. That doesn't feel like the bite of that corgi. What in the world? I glanced behind myself to see a shadowy hand gripping the ledge of my bed. What is this— It yanked me back onto the mattress before disappearing into nothing.

What just happened back there? How did a hand appear from my back? I don't think this is part of my Semblance. But what could it be? A yell brought my attention back to the fight at hand. The cloaked figure flipped herself over, hooking her legs over the rope before wrapping her arms around the maw of the tapeworm beast. My leader waved her hands in my direction, catching my eye.

"Blake!" Ruby had her hands cupped. Her eyes shined with relief. "Toss the bottle over to me!" I did just that, flicking the bottle in her direction. The girl caught the glass container with little trouble and she started pouring the contents of it over her body to extinguish it. As the Dust put out the burning leg, I saw bits of it split away and transform into rose petals before floating in her direction. At the same time, the white figure let out a loud grunt as she yanked the beast off of her torso and threw it back into the lava.

"Okay, we might be able to stand a chance," the reaper noted as she watched the petals touch the stub where her left leg should be. Just like in Forever Fall, the limb reformed bit by bit until the leg was fully formed. The process reminded me of building blocks that children would play with. Once the leg was back together, the cloaked woman faded away into nothing. Almost immediately Ruby's wounds started knitting themselves back together. " **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** is going to reemerge from the lava anytime now; that's going to be the perfect time to strike at its head. Blake, you're going to need to focus. Remember the hand that escaped from your back?"

I nodded. Could she see that as well? "Do you remember what you did to make it appear?" I nodded again. "Focus this time. Yank hard on that feeling." My eyebrows flew up in suspicion. This was all just bizarre as it goes. I tried to do it again. My eyes widened in surprise when some kind of spiritual thing appeared in front of me.

The figure had a humanoid figure like a woman, but the skin was matte black. It looked like the woman was wearing a skintight uniform. On her shoulder guards were my emblem. Her head was feline in nature. The general structure was like a jaguar, but it also had a mane like a lion. Human hands had a fold at the ends of the fingertips, where claws could pop out. Solid golden eyes gazed back at me. A bit of light passed through the robot, giving her a creepy, ethereal look.

" **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS,** **」** " I whispered in awe. I don't know where the name came from, but something felt right about the name. It felt like it fit the ghostly woman standing in front of me. The cat-headed ghost gave me a nod before taking on a fighting stance similar to the tiger pose used in Mistralian martial arts. For some reason, seeing the woman in that pose brought a sense of calm in me. Like I can do anything.

"Blake, get down!" The tapeworm burst through the lava, shooting a geyser of molten rocks in my direction. I threw myself to the right side of the bed, dodging the lava as well as getting a yelp out of the corgi as I ran into him. Yang's blanket sizzled as the hot fluid washed over the bed.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** followed my body closely, staying an arm's length away from me at all times. The giant monster Ruby referred to as  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** splashed into the lava floor, sending another splash my way.

Zwei yelped when he saw that, jumping onto the bookshelf and crossing over to the other bed. I, however, had my back pressed against the wall. I can't move anywhere! I'm going to get hit by the lava! Before that could happen, the catwoman leaped behind me, merging into the wall. A gasp escaped my throat as I felt myself sink into the wall. It was like the plaster was a surface of water, and I dove into it.

The lava washed over the bed and hit parts of the wall, yet I didn't burn. What? How was that possible? I tried to stare at myself. Most of me looked fine, but at the same time, I looked like I lost a lot of… depth. My body's two-dimensional! Somehow I managed to merge with the wall. How did that happen? **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** appeared behind me. Was it due to the woman that appeared out of nowhere? She didn't say anything, instead pointing a finger towards the front door. Maybe she's trying to say something. I think I should be safe from the tapeworm in this form.

With that, I made my way towards the front door, where Ruby happened to be. She gasped when she looked at me. "Blake! You look like a cartoon character! Just like those Mistralian animes!" My leader waved off her comment. "But forget about that. Here's the plan. We're going to need to get the tapeworm out of the lava so that we can target the head. So I'm going to get its attention. When I do, you come in with **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** and hold its head in place. I'll cut off its body so that it can't move, then you attack the head!"

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan, Ruby." With that, Ruby loaded what's left of the ice Dust into Weiss' sword and fired off an ice bolt at the ground. The lava cooled down right away, forming a rocky platform that Ruby then leaped on.

Moments later,  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** screeched as it exposed itself, jumping towards the reaper. "Blake, now!" I pulled myself out of the wall and grabbed the tapeworm's head using  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS,** **」** slamming it into the front door. The mysterious cloaked figure re-appeared from thin air, letting out a feminine roar before swinging a karate chop right at the monster's torso. The body separated with ease, leaving me with only the head to deal with.

The feline woman pulled one of her hands back and released her claws as I landed on the blanket. With triumph I yelled, " **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS!** **」** " The figure sunk the claws right into one of the round suckers, causing the creature to screech in pain. Instead of blood, a murky clear liquid flew out of the puncture wounds the woman made. She let out a snarl as the claws swung to and fro, creating hundreds, no thousands of scratch marks, all releasing the pale liquid.

"WAAAAOOUUUU!" She let out one final wail as she sank her claws straight through the worm, causing it to slump in her arms. The ground turned back to its normal black the moment it died. The heat from within the room faded just as quickly and the smell of burning more or less stopped. There was still scorch marks all over the room, the remnants of the battle at hand. **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** pulled the claw back, allowing the body of the worm to drop. It shrunk while it was in the air, returning back to its normal size. Both Ruby and I looked at the tiny head that remained.

"Wow, that was a mess," the girl noted as she wiped her forehead. "Yeah, something tells me Zwei is going to go back on the tapeworm medicine." She turned to face me. "I guess you want to know what's going on, right?"

"I think I deserve it." My eyes remained upon the ghostly figures standing around. " What did I just do, Ruby? What are these spirit people in front of us?" I glanced at the girl. "Can you see them as well?"

She nodded. "Yeah." A hint of sadness crept into her words. "But before I can explain everything, we have to wait for Weiss to wake back up."

I raised my eyebrows in interest. "Why?"

At my question, Ruby glanced over to her resting partner. The Dust crystals on her were receding back into her skin. "Because she's going to want an explanation for this as well."

* * *

My eyes opened to see snow falling down the pitch black night. I'm back in my family mansion, more specifically, the balcony pointing towards the wild forests of Atlas. How did I get back here? Wasn't I in my team's room a little while ago? I stared into the mass of old oak as my mind raced. Did my father take me back here when I wasn't paying attention? No, that's not possible. Despite the calls I've been ignoring, I know that he's not desperate enough to just take me back. Besides, wouldn't I be waking up in a bed instead of standing up?

It looks like tonight has a heavy snowstorm. I can feel every single snowflake that landed on my hair, my shoulders, skin, and everything. But despite the sub-zero temperatures, I didn't feel like I was freezing. I wasn't even wearing a jacket or anything, yet I don't feel anything. Am I dead? Is that why I can't feel? But the arrow that monster had didn't even nick me. Maybe it's covered by a hallucinogen?

A hint of a glimmer caught my attention. I looked up to see an aurora start to form across the sky. A tear fell down the side of my face. I remember the first time I saw an aurora. It was with Grandpa. It was during his birthday. Father was dragging Winter around with him, showing her off to prospective business partners and suitors, while I was stuck with taking care of Grandpa. I wheeled him outside on this balcony to take a break from the party going inside when the aurora first appeared.

"So, you do remember that time." My head jerked back to see him sitting in his wheelchair. A gasp escaped my mouth as my eyes widened. No, that can't be possible! He died a couple of months after that day! He hasn't been alive for years! Grandpa let out a chortle, his beard bouncing in time with his jolly laugh. He still had that energy that he never seemed to have lost, even while he was dying from Dust poisoning. Is this what Ruby saw when she was talking about her mother? Am I going crazy now?

"Don't be surprised, my little schneeflocke," he continued, giving me a small smile. "I might've passed away a long time ago, but death can't stop me from viewing the light show." He stared at the shining lights. "Watching the lights from above was nice for a couple of years, but it doesn't hold a candle to seeing them from the ground." The old man wheeled himself to my side, locking the chair into place. "It reminds me not to look down on the world. Looking down distances yourself from the world. It makes a person callous and bitter, unaware of life around him. Looking up, now that fills a man's heart with dreams, dreams for a world they want to fight for."

"... Why are you here, Grandpa?" I asked as I stiffened up. This can't be happening… I'm talking with the dead. "I don't understand… what are you still doing here?"

"Straight to the point, I see? Just like your father." I bit the side of my cheek in both anger and surprise as he rose up to his feet. Grandpa massaged his thighs, most likely to get the blood flowing. "There's something bothering you. You're torn between duty to your family and the yearning of freedom." He held a hand up before I could say a word. "I can see it within your heart the conflict, how you're tearing yourself up over this. It makes me wonder if that's the reason why I'm talking to you again, like those ancient stories of the dead helping the living."

The elderly man stood next to the railing of the balcony, pressing his bare hands against the ice-cold metal. "The answer isn't something for me to say. After all, this is your life, not mine. But these lights… they've always served as sort of a beacon to me, something to look up to whenever I'm lost in life. Like I said, looking up inspires dreams. So tell me, little schneeflocke. When you look up at the aurora, what do you see?"

My head turned back to the flowing lights. I squinted as the flashes became visible images. "I see… redemption. My father… he did a lot of bad things: he soiled the company name, he made our society apathetic towards everyone, he spat on what it meant to be a Schnee. I want to fix that. But I don't want to be a puppet for my father, continuing his policies mindlessly. I want to be like you: following my own path in order to change the world."

"Well then." My Grandpa gestured towards the lights. "Why don't you go after that? Do what is right for you. Don't throw yourself into doing something you don't want to do just because it's necessary to take up the company. Repeatedly making concessions will make you an unhappy woman. Do something for yourself. Desire something for yourself. I can't promise that it'll be the right way for your goals, or if it'll even be worth it. But I will promise you that it will make you a more happy woman."

"But we're really high up," I argued. "Wouldn't I fall?"

"I wouldn't worry about that, my little schneeflocke." He had a mischievous smile on his face. "Go on, reach for your dream. What's a little drop in the face of your desires?"

With that I took a step on the railing. Almost immediately a set of Dust crystals grew under my feet, serving as platforms for my feet. I looked back at my Grandpa in disbelief. "Well?" He shooed me away. "Go ahead. This is what you want, right?" I nodded and continued onwards. It felt… unusual, seeing my feet sprout out Dust platforms as I walked into the sky. Every step I made brought me ever so closer to my dream. With one hand I reached towards the lights—

A gasp escaped my mouth as the ground around me started shaking. The Dust platforms started cracking. "What the— Grandpa!" I turned around and looked at him. "What do I do? It's going to break!"

"Stay sturdy. Never doubt yourself. Believe in your mind and your heart that you will reach the lights above, and you will." He gave me a small smile. "It's nice to have supports. They help carry the weight. But at the end of the day, this is your path. You're a determined girl, Weiss. Trust in your power, and your power will carry you." It felt like everything was about to shatter. "You'll know when it'll carry you. You'll know when it's time." The platform shattered, sending me tumbling down.

And then I fell off of the bed as I tipped over, collapsing to the ground with a thud. I blinked for a moment before gasping. The lava! A yell escaped me as I pushed myself off the ground to minimize the— wait a minute. The carpet was black again. I touched it gingerly. It stopped burning.

"Weiss! You're awake!" A blur of red and black slammed into me before I could react. I let out a yell of surprise as she squeezed me and swung me around.

"Come on, Ruby! Let me go, you dolt!" The girl did so immediately, sending me careening to the floor.

A cough caught both of our attention. Blake gave my partner a dirty look. "Now that Weiss is up, I feel like you owe us an explanation." She crossed her arms. "What was that creature with the arrow? Why did the carpet turn into lava? Who are the ghost people?"

She sighed as she walked over to my bed, plopping down on the side. "I wished I could be more honest with you guys yesterday and the days before that. You two weren't supposed to be part of this, but since the Cupid decided to hit you two with the Arrow, I guess I have no choice. Let's start with the 'ghost figures.'"

I jerked back in surprise as a woman in white appeared behind Ruby. "This is  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES,** **」** or Rose for short. She's what we call a Stand, created by the Arrow. Stands in general are the core parts of our soul given form. They allow the user to do things that we can only dream of doing." Ruby held up her hand. Blake and I both gasped as her fingers broke away from her hand, transforming into rose petals. "This is my Stand ability: to break any part of my body into rose petals. I lied about it yesterday in order to throw you guys off."

Blake brought her hand to her chin. "S— So when I merged my body with the wall—"

"That was a Stand ability as well." Her fingers reformed themselves as she looked back up. "Stand users are created whenever they are hit with the Arrow. It's the same arrow that the Cupid used on you two and the tapeworm. I was trying to get the Arrow away from the Cupid so that it wouldn't create any other Stand users, but that didn't go too well."

"Wait," I started, stepping towards the girl. "Does that mean I have a Stand as well?"

Ruby nodded. "Think of how you feel when you're doing something big. Like life or death big. Once you find that emotion, you want to pull that up to the surface. That's how you summon your Stand."

I did as Ruby asked me. Okay, so something big, something important. The pressure of the Schnee inheritance popped into my mind. As I focused on it, I felt the stress swelling up in my chest. So I just pull that out, right? I mentally grasped that feeling and yanked hard. Nothing happened. What? I tried it again, focusing on pulling that stress. But despite all of my efforts, nothing appeared in front of me. Frustration started building in my chest. Once more I tried pulling against the feelings, but at the end of the day, it just wouldn't do whatever I wanted it to. "I can't," I gasped as I grabbed my chest. "Why isn't it working?"

Ruby rubbed her head in confusion. "That's strange. It worked when I did it. Blake, you did something like that as well, right?" The faunus girl nodded. My partner hummed, her silver eyes glancing up to the ceiling. "I don't really know what to say about that. That's the best way I can describe summoning your Stand. Are you absolutely sure that this is the feeling you feel that is important to you?"

"It's my feelings about taking over the SDC! How is that not the most important thing to me?"

"Hmm…" Ruby tapped the side of her cheek. "But you can see our Stands, so you have to be a user. Maybe— no, that's not right." She let out a sigh before shrugging. "I don't know what to say. I guess we're calming down from the fight we just had, so that's why nothing's happening." My face wrinkled in disappointment. This is just like summoning practice with Winter.

The girl looked at me before gasping. "Oh no, I didn't mean to offend you or anything! Seriously Weiss, we can figure out a way to bring your Stand out and everything! Don't worry about everything—"

Blake let out a hum, bringing our attention back to the conversation at hand. "... Who else?"

"What?" My partner raised her eyebrows up.

"Who else has a Stand like us?"

"... As far as I know, Jaune is a Stand user. There's this guy named Nolan who's also a Stand user. He's the one who got sent to the infirmary…" The girl scrunched her face and glanced at both of us before shaking her head. "Besides us, that's everyone."

"So what now?" I asked. "Do we go after this 'Cupid' figure?"

"I can't leave you out of this now," Ruby sighed. "You two are going to help me find the Cupid. We can't let the monster get out of hand and bring the world to an end. So are you guys with me?"

A smile crawled up my face. "Someone's going to have to watch you."

Blake glanced at the ceiling in thought before nodding. "I'll be with you."

We all froze into place as we heard the door unlock. The door flew wide open, revealing the elder sister. Yang had her eyes closed and hummed a song as she walked in. A parcel sat underneath her armpit. "Hey everyone! Did Ruby come back? I managed to get her—" She opened her eyes before recoiling in shock of the state of the room. The brown package fell to the ground.

"Hehe…" Ruby nervously laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Umm… surprise?"

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = August 18, 2017**

* * *

**Nolan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 2**

I tossed a lien chip into the growing pile in front of the rest of my team. "Ten lien on that guy in CRDL, the one with the fancy hair and the giant halberd. I think he looks sappy enough to write a love letter."

Branz rubbed his face. "Dude, you're a moron. If anything, I'm sure it's one of the guys in team ABRN. They're from Mistral, you know, the capital of culture and love and all of that BS? They look like the kind of guys who would try something like writing a love letter." He placed two lien chips in. "I'm putting five lien on each of those two boys."

"I'm not sure about that," Roy chuckled, running his hand through his hair as he looked through the profile of all of the students attending Beacon right now. "I've talked to Scarlet from team SSSN, and I heard how he likes his girls shy and wearing red like him. Plus, he's done some crazy stuff back at Haven with the girls." He pulled out a lien chip from his wallet. "Five lien on my pirate boy right here."

"So May," I started, looking up at the girl. She's sitting on the bed, watching us make wild bets and accusations. "Are you going to buy in?"

"Wait, isn't me betting going to affect the odds?" She tugged on her beanie, further covering her left eye. "This is a bet about me."

"Eh, don't worry about it." I waved her concern aside. "It's not like you betting would change the feelings of another person. I'm sure you're safe this time."

She sighed. "You said that last time when we were betting on whether you were going to eat a pie after practice. You didn't eat one specifically to spite all of us."

"That was a one-time thing! And we made a rule against it, so it should be cool now!"

The girl tapped the side of her cheek before reaching into her pockets. "Okay. Twenty lien on a girl."

At that we turned our heads towards the girl. "Wait, what? Seriously?" I asked. "Why?"

"Because I have an advantage, you know: I'm the only one who read the letter. And if any of you guys asked for it, you would know that it's in cursive. And not just any cursive; it's the cursive with flowy, bubbly letters. Combine that with the size of the letters and we get a girl's handwriting."

"... I don't think that that's how it works," Branz noted. "Not all bubbly handwriting is a girl's. Men can have flowy handwriting as well! I have flowy handwriting!"

"Well, it's partly that, and also the fact that this is written in turquoise ink." She flipped the paper over. Sure enough, the person's words were in bright blue.

All three of us groaned as the realization hit us. "Oh…" I slapped my forehead. "Oh boy. Wow, yeah. That's embarrassing. Hey, do you think that we can change our bets now?"

"Wha— Of course we can!" Branz exclaimed. "You hid information from us, May!"

She shrugged. "No one asked for it. Why would I tell? I wasn't going to bet anything anyways."

"It still would've been useful knowing that! We were all going to lose the bet without that knowledge!" My team leader groaned as he pulled his hair. "Dude, is there anything else you're hiding from us?"

"I've been hiding a flask within the stock of my gun that's filled with cola."

"That has to deal with the bet at hand!"

I let out a sigh as my team leader kept ribbing May for more information about the letter. You know what? I think this is something I can win for once. There's no need for guess who it is, I can just track her using **「** **BELFRY FALLS!** **」** Within moments my Stand materialized on the ceiling. The creature craned its head at me, almost asking for its orders.

It's surprising how much my abilities expanded ever since I gained control over the reptile. From what I heard from Ruby, apparently  **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** attacked anyone with the strongest negative emotion. I stared back into the komodo dragon's blue eyes. Now that I'm in control, my Stand has calmed down considerably. The creature can still track people based on emotion, but now I can be selective on what emotion I'm looking for. It's no longer going to be indiscriminate with whom it bites.

**「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** flickered its tongue as it crawled down onto the wall. The rest of my team didn't react as the lizard stuck its nostrils into the paper, flicking its tongue. A rush of smells hit me. Hmm… There's that tangy smell of squeezed lemon… the cedar and lavender are less prominent, but I can still make it out. There's also a sweeter smell, one that doesn't remind me of anything but is really familiar. It brings out a feeling of fondness. Maybe that's what it is. It's not an actual smell, but its the emotions behind it.

I blinked. Wait, I can smell emotions? Okay… I learned something new today. But back on track. Whoever wrote the letter is at least genuine with their affection, so we can rule out a joke or a prank. The komodo dragon took another whiff. Yeah, the person's a girl. Definitely a girl. While she uses an androgynous kind of cologne, her shampoo is unmistakably feminine. But from there I can't figure out anything else. She doesn't wear any kind of makeup or anything else that can narrow down my options. Maybe I should go out and ask someone else about this. But I'm going to need an excuse to show a picture of the—

"Branz, I have nothing else," May declared, tossing the letter in the center of the room. "You can have a look at this if you want. Now, if you excuse me." She shoved her earbuds back into her ears and continued on with her business.

The rest of us guys glanced at each other, wondering what to do with the writing in front of us. I spoke up first: "... So, let's take a picture of it?" The rest of them nodded.

"Yeah."

"Sure, why not?"

And just like that, I had what I needed to figure out who our mystery writer is. Now if only I can figure out who it is. Maybe a certain reaper can point me in the right direction…

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Reference(s): The tapeworm's 「DOWN UNDER」is based on the band Man at Work's Down Under. It's a new wave/pop rock song released in 1981. I chose this song mainly because its lyrics have this sense of curiosity and catharsis. While being a song about Australian pride, it does empathize doing whatever you want, almost like a wild animal. Then there's how Australia is known to be scorching hot on the majority of the continent, which reflected back on the lava ability the tapeworm had. And then there was the butt joke where the tapeworm came from Zwei, "down under" in a sense.
> 
> Blake's 「SANDE MOUNTAINS」is based on Emeli Sandé's Mountains. It's a pop song released in 2012, and this is one of the three Stand names where I decided to combine both the singer's name and the song name. Why did I do that? Well, I liked the song's message about building a better life/better world, which is an ideology that I'm sure every activist holds dear. As extreme the White Fang's ideology is, it's still centered around giving the faunus a better life. But just Mountains was kinda lame. However, I lucked out in how the singer's last name is similar to sand, which brings me to the other reason I chose Sande Mountains.
> 
> Basically, it's a paradox. Not a lot of people think of sand mountains as an actual thing. Sand dunes, sure, but a sand mountain? That should not exist in a desert. And how likely would it be that a sand mountain would exist out of a desert? Despite that, they actually do exist. Sand Mountain in Nevada is an actual mountain of sand that sticks out in the mild desert of Nevada. It shouldn't exist. But it does. It's similar to Blake's struggle with coming to terms with the White Fang. She's paradoxical in her mindset, in her actions, but they all define her and she still stands above all odds.


	17. Eclipse

I tugged at my cape, biting my lip as Yang examined the room. This is going to be hard to explain. My sister looked at the three of us. "Hey guys… what happened to the room? I mean look at it! Everything's all burnt! It's like somebody took a flamethrower and torched the entire place, Ruby." Her eyes flew towards me.

A nervous grin appeared on my face as I remembered that day. In my defense, the trigger mechanism was busted on that flamethrower. I didn't know that it would activate the moment I put fuel into it. And besides, who would've known that there were still working modifications sitting in the weapons bone yard? It's a bone yard for a reason. It's junk that's not supposed to work! I kept my silence, though.

She continued on with her inspection, poking her toe at the blanket that sat on the floor. "Why is there a blanket on the floor Wait… is this Blake's blanket?" The faunus girl's bow twitched at the question. Amber eyes glared at me, silently asking me the same question. I raised my hands up in defense. It's not like I could say what really happened in this room to Yang. There's gotta be some excuse that Yang would buy. My sister placed her hands on her hips as she gave me a stare. "Ruby, what did you do?"

"Whaa, me?" I pointed to myself. A nervous chuckle escaped my mouth. "Why would you ever think that your poor innocent little sister did something wrong?" I pulled my lips in and gave her the best sad puppy eyes I can manage. "How could you do something like that?"

Yang didn't even flinch. "Don't try those puppy eyes on me again. It might've worked the first couple of times, but now I'm wise to your pleading ways, sister. You're not going to get away that easily." I dropped the act. Darn, and I thought it was going to work just fine. The blonde crossed her arms as she looked at me with disappointment. "In all seriousness, what happened here?"

With that question, all eyes were on me: Yang's for answers, Weiss and Blake's for excuses. Another nervous laugh escaped my mouth. I bit my lip again. Come on, what can I say? "Umm… oh! I happened to come back to the dorm and found Blake and Weiss, so we decided to have a um… a team bonding exercise!" Yang raised her eyebrow at the answer. "No, really! We envisioned this unusual scenario in where the floor was lava, and we worked together to defeat the hot lava monster!"

Now a look of confusion crossed over the brawler's face. She tapped the base of her cheek as she let out a hum. "So you played a game of 'the floor is lava?'"

My head nodded at the answer at nearly supersonic speeds. "Yup! It was exciting, I tell you! We were doing all that we can to survive, but despite all of the challenges, we managed to defeat the monster!" A sweatdrop slipped down my face. Please don't call me out. Please don't call me out. My cheeks turned red as I broke eye contact with Yang. "Although we kinda got a little too into it… we shouldn't have brought in the fire Dust for realism."

"Oh really?" She glanced at the rest of the team, giving them a questioning look. "Did you guys really do that?" Yang asked. The monochrome girls glanced at each other, silently communicating with each other. My heart flew into a panic. I don't think I've ever told them to keep the existence of the Stands quiet. What if they decide to tell her? Oh gods, how's Yang going to react if she hears from the other two girls that these things exist? Is she going to panic? Will she get herself into danger in an attempt to protect us all?

"That's right." My eyes zipped towards Weiss as she picked up her rapier from the ground. "Ruby took some of the Dust within Myrtenaster without me asking. I tried to dissuade her, but she spilled the vial and burnt our room." She let out a long sigh as she turned towards me, putting on a familiar scowl. "Ruby, I expected better from you! Didn't the first day of school teach you anything about Dust safety?" Now that her face was turned away from Yang, she gave me a wink. Huh? Why did she— Oh! I get it!

"I'm sorry, Weiss!" I raised my hands up in defense before pressing them together and bowing as fast as possible. "It was an accident! I was trying to be more careful with the Dust, I swear!"

Blake gave me a small smile, looking at the dog trotting up to her before entering the conversation. "Well, if it wasn't for Zwei—"

A gasp escaped my mouth. "It's not his fault!" I zipped over and snatched the corgi, who let out a bark and a lick. "He really likes to sleep on the rug! It's not his fault that he happened to be in the way!"

"It's not—"

"Enough!" We all looked at the blonde, whose eyes were getting dangerously close to red. "..." The brawler's eyebrows flew up even higher in suspicion. Everybody gulped at the same time. Oh gods, please don't yet Yang find out, please don't yet Yang find out, please—

"Why didn't you wait for me?"

My eyes turned towards my sister, whose eyes had reverted back to lilac. "Huh?"

"Why didn't you message me about that? I would totally be down for playing 'the floor is lava.' You know, if we got rid of the fire Dust and just played it like normal." She gave all of us a grin as she picked the package back up from the ground. "I mean it's been forever since we got the chance to mess around together. Last time we did that was… the dance, maybe? And that was over a month ago! We could afford to have some quality time together as a team!"

"I guess that's true." Blake let out a hum. "But where will we go?"

"Don't worry about that!" I beamed. "We can go into Vale and enjoy our time there! I'll go look up some stuff and see what we can do. But what do you say, tomorrow after school we go into town?" Blake and Weiss quickly nodded, each with a small smile on their faces.

Yang gave a smile of her own. "That would be great! Man, it would be a nice change of pace, that's for sure!" She tilted her head to the side in a moment of confusion before letting out a hum. "Wait a minute, there was something I wanted to say to you. What was it?" Her eyes glanced at the package in her hands. "Oh yeah! Ruby, I have something for you." She held out the dark package. "While you were gone, I went and picked up a package addressed to you. I don't know what's inside. Do you?"

I shook my head as I lifted it out of my sister's hands. "No, not really." My hands started tearing through the wrapping. "I don't really order anything online, considering how Crescent Rose is still gone. So I'm not—" My voice stopped working as I saw a glint of metal underneath the paper wrapping. The chrome surface had a red sheen on it. It can't be… Did they finally— I ripped through the rest of the packaging, revealing the body of my baby. It is!

Everybody smiled as I let out a shriek of glee. "Oh, Crescent Rose! You're back with me!" I squeezed my baby close to my chest. "I missed you so much! It's only been two days, but it felt like an eternity waiting for you to come back!" Another squeal overcame me as I danced around in joy. The rest of team RWBY were probably laughing at my overreaction, but that didn't matter too much to me because my weapon is back in my hands after so long!

I pulled the sniper scythe away from me and inspected the chassis. My weapon has definitely seen better days. There was a big dent on the right-hand side of the body. That's probably where the rocks hit Crescent Rose after her fall. I tried pulling back on the bolt, only to find it stuck in place. I'm gonna need to check the loading mechanism in the forge later. Several smaller dents lined the rest of the weapon. Need to hammer those out and make sure the balance is fine. There were also several scratches in the paint job, revealing the pale silver-colored metal underneath. After repairs, I'm going to need to give Crescent Rose another round of powder coating.

One flick of my thumb activated the mechashift mechanisms. The normally smooth running weapon creaked and groaned as she strained to take on her scythe form. Blake shied away at the sound, with her bow bending downwards in displeasure. The others weren't too pleased either, covering their ears. Even I had to wince at the ugly cry of my child.

Finally, the tip of the scythe locked into place, allowing me to continue assessing the damage. The blade itself looked intact. I ran a finger down the edge of the barb of Crescent Rose. The rocks must've dulled the blade, meaning I'm going to need to sharpen it later.

A whistle left my mouth as I laid the weapon on the ground. Most of the parts are probably going to be replaced. After all, I didn't design Crescent Rose to be thrown off a cliff into a sea of water. The mechashift mechanisms are damaged by the seawater, which means I'm going to need to get a weapons shop to print out a new set of parts. The firing mechanism is probably busted, so that needs to be changed out. I also need to give the weapon another round of finish to clean up the scratches. The scythe blade thankfully can just be sharpened, but with the rest of the weapon broken, Crescent Rose isn't going to be seeing any action anytime soon.

I glanced up to my team. "Hey, you guys don't mind if I take this to the forge and start repairs? There's a lot of work to be done before I can get Crescent Rose back to her prime."

Yang nodded. "Go ahead and give your precious child the care it needs. I don't think any of us mind that you would go off to fix your weapon." She took a step forwards followed by a loud, wet squishing noise. Her face scrunched up in disgust. "Uh… guys? Did Zwei do his thing on the floor? I swear, if I lift my foot and see even a speck of poop on my boots—"

"Oh, that's what I've been forgetting!" I turned towards my sister. "One more thing. While we're on our visit to Vale, could we get one of those chewable de-wormers for Zwei? And also we're going to need to get this whole entire room disinfected. Turns out Zwei has a case of tapeworm, and it kinda… uh… plopped down over there." I pointed to where she was stepping right now.

The blonde paled at my statement. "So that means the thing I just stepped on is—?" She lifted her foot up to see the squished head of our recently vanquished enemy. A shriek escaped her mouth. "Eww! Ugh, get it off, get it off!" The rest of the team laughed as we watched her rub her foot across the rug, trying to get the dead parasite off of her boots. Zwei let out a happy bark as he rushed the girl and stood on his hind legs. He propped himself against her leg, giving her his usual lovable look. "No! Zwei, not now! Get off!" Yang let out a long whine. "Down, Zwei! Down!"

* * *

I slapped the dust out of my hands after slamming Ren's locker shut. A sigh escaped my mouth. Finally! It took way too much time to put all of the ammunition away. Instead of storing it in one convenient place for our team, I had to place all of my team's Dust rounds in each of their individual lockers. It took awhile for the rest of my team to text me their locker number and combination. Didn't help that our individual lockers were placed as far as possible from each other. It must've taken an hour or so exploring the maze that was the locker room!

But now that my job's done, I can do whatever I want. I yawned as I rubbed the corners of my eyes. I think I'll go catch up on sleep. Waking up so early on a Sunday should be a crime. Images of a soft bed and warm blankets filled my mind as I made my way towards the exit. A growl escaped my stomach. Or maybe I should eat lunch first before going to sleep. That sounds good as well. I wonder if I can get away with ordering takeout and then having lunch in bed.

With a flourish, I pulled the door open, revealing my partner in a training outfit. Sweat ran down Pyrrha's skin, as if she just finished a workout or something. She was doing something with her towel, pulling it down on the area between her neck and her shoulder. I guess it was some kind of stretching exercise. The girl was lost in thought for a moment, not paying any attention to what's in front of her and walking into me. "Oof! I'm sorry!" She flinched back for a moment before her emerald eyes widened in surprise. "Jaune? What are you doing here?"

A yawn escaped my mouth. "Oh hey Pyrrha. You don't remember? I sent you a text so I could put away the Dust ammunition."

Her eyes glanced at my exhausted state. "Right, but I thought you finished that a long time ago!"

I put up a tired smile. "The locker room's pretty big. Took me awhile to travel to where I needed to go. Plus Nora took a long time to send her locker combination. Something about forgetting it and how she lost the paper she wrote it down on. But hey, I'm done with that now." I held my hand out. "Did you have lunch yet by any chance?" She shook her head. "After you're done changing, you don't mind if we get a bite together? Ren and Nora said over the CCT that they already ate, and I haven't eaten anything ever since I got up."

My partner smiled. "Of course, Jaune. That would be delightful." The girl stepped around me, heading towards her stuff. I followed close behind her.

Luckily enough, her locker happened to be fairly close to the door. I turned around as she popped her locker open, facing away from her to give her a bit of privacy. A hum escaped her mouth as I heard the rustling of clothes behind me. "So where were you this morning, Jaune? It seems weird that you would be up so early, on a Sunday no less."

I started rocking my foot back and forth. What can I say to convince her? "I guess I wanted to get caught up with the stuff I missed Friday. I spent most of my morning talking to Oobleck and Port about the lesson. Then Port went into one of his long stories, you know him. Then I went to the Headmaster for a proper debriefing. You know, mainly house cleaning stuff."

Pyrrha let out a giggle. "That's… really responsible of you, Jaune." I heard the sounds of a rough towel rubbing against skin. Her voice became a lot more muffled. "I didn't really think that you would try to take care of that so early in the morning, though."

A sigh left my mouth as I laced my fingers. "Yeah, I didn't think so, either. But as much as I want to sleep in, something tells me future me wouldn't like it if Monday I had a lot of stuff to catch up on. So why not take care of everything early, right?" I let out a nervous laugh and she quickly joined in.

"It does feel good to finish up things before they become big problems." This time I think I heard a cap pop. Maybe it's some kind of deodorant or something? "I like how afterward I feel free to do whatever I want, although back during my Mistrali champion days that meant more training. Still, I liked training better than filming for an advertisement or being in a photo shoot. I just feel like I don't have to pretend to be someone else."

"Mmm," I responded, pulling out my scroll and checking the news feed. From the looks of it, there isn't any news on Torchwick or Neo. Nothing on Nolan and his **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** either. Ozpin was serious when he mentioned how nothing involving the Stands will appear in the news. "By the way, did anything notable happen while I was gone? Any Nora situations I have to deal with?"

"Not really." Pyrrha recapped whatever she pulled out. A small hum reached my ears. "We went out to get breakfast, then Ren decided to go to the library to study. Nora decided to follow him there, and I decided to get in a workout. I don't think we did anything interesting or worth talking about."

I jumped when I heard the sound of something clanging against the aluminum of the lockers. "Pyrrha, are you okay?" I started turning around.

"Yes!" Her voice was sharp. I managed to catch a glimpse of her hand held out towards me as she turned so that her back faced me. "Please don't turn around! I'm still not decent!" My face grew hot as I turned back faster than Ruby using her Semblance.

"Sorry!" My hands flew up to my face. "I'm sorry, I thought you bumped your head or something—"

"No no, it's fine, Jaune! It's okay! You didn't mean it!" Something tells me she was just as mortified as I am. "It's not like you were doing it to get a look! The— My Semblance! I think I accidentally magnetized the locker door." She swung the metallic locker, causing it to make squeaking noises. "Oh… okay. That— that surprised me as well as you. If anything, it was my mistake."

"Oh, okay." I leaned towards the front door. Another long silence filled the room with none of us moving or even making a single sound. My foot started tapping on the ground, the sound cutting through the awkward tension inside. "You know, if you're planning on getting in a quick shower, I can just go ahead and get some food and a spot. I'll wait for you."

A hum escaped my partner. "... I think I'll just save the shower until we get back home. I haven't had anything to eat either this morning, and I should have something soon." I heard the sounds of rustling and a zipper being pulled up. "Plus, I don't want to waste any more of your time."

"I don't see it that way." My thumbs fought each other, twirling around each other as seconds passed by. "After all, I'm free today. I don't see the problem in spending a bit of time with my partner. Even if it is while you're changing."

"I guess." She let out a sigh. "You know, I've… wanted to talk to you about the dance for quite some time. But it's been almost a month since it happened, and I didn't really know how to ask you about it, especially after how—"

"No, it's fine!" My eyes stared straight towards the gray metal of one of the lockers. "Go ahead and talk about it. I didn't bring it up because I thought it would be sort of a sore spot with you."

Now it's her turn to sputter. "Jaune, there was nothing wrong about that day! I had the most fun than I had in the longest time! It felt relaxing to just enjoy the night with the rest of JNPR, with you!" Another sigh. "I've been thinking about that night and the day in the arcade, and how should I say this…" An awkward silence enveloped us as she struggled to say her next words. "I'm— I'm glad that we have those kinds of chances, where we can just be people. And what I want to say is— Oh, I'm still not dressed!" I heard the sounds of fabric stretching and covering up my partner. "Sorry about that, you can turn around!"

I did so to see Pyrrha in her usual outfit. Her face was almost as red as her hair. The girl placed a hand on her cheek as she glanced away from me. "And what I want to say this… oh... "

"What did you want to say to me?" I asked.

"... I forgot." A sheepish grin crawled over her face as she glanced at me. There was something… weird about her tone, like it was stilted. She slapped her cheek, glancing up to the ceiling. "What was I going to say?" Pyrrha said in a sing-song voice. "Oh well, I guess we can talk about it later when I do remember." Her green eyes flickered to mine for just a moment before looking away: a move I found all too familiar recently. She's lying about something. But what is she lying about? Should I even press her for answers? It seems really personal to her, something intimate. Something concerning me…

"Don't worry about it." I waved the thought off. It wouldn't be right to probe her for answers, especially if it's something that she would get embarrassed about. It might be nothing. It might be something serious. But maybe it's best to leave it alone for now and let her speak when she's ready. "You'll remember it eventually."

"I guess." Pyrrha glanced at the tiled floors for a moment before glancing back up. "So should we go get lunch?"

"Okay." A smile grew on my face as we made our way out. "So should we go get the usual? I'm thinking something bigger since we both skipped breakfast." We stepped out of the locker room, basking in the warm afternoon sunlight. "You know how you always have a salad and that pork rice casserole you like? Do you think that's good enough for someone like me?"

Pyrrha let out a hum. "You know, I was thinking we can indulge ourselves for a day. I think we'll be okay having some pizza."

"Alright," I laughed. "I don't mind splitting a pizza. But the pizzas here are huge. Aren't they sixteen inches? It's going to take awhile for the two of us to finish it."

Now it was her turn to give me a smile of her own. "Weren't you the one who said that you had plenty of time to spare? I don't mind that, as long as I get to spend time with my partner."

A voice interrupted us. "Hey, excuse me." We both looked to our side to see an older student with dark skin. Everything about him followed a red and black color palette, his red vest and black pants matching well with his copper hair. Pupil-less eyes stared straight at us. "Worry about disturbing you two. If you guys don't mind, have you seen any of my teammates?" He held his hand out. "One of them's around this height, wears sunglasses and a wool-like turtleneck. At least, that's what she says she wears. There's also a giant of a Mistrali, eastern origin I guess. Giant bronze sword on his back."

I shook my head for a moment, then stopped. Wait, could he even see me shake my head? His head drifted off of us for a moment. Maybe he's blind. "Sorry, I haven't. What about your last teammate?"

"Right, how about a rabbit faunus? Fairly short, has a camera on her side at all times. Big, soft ears." Both of our eyes widened at the description.

"Wait, do you mean Velvet?" His chin tilted up at the name. His previously neutral face turned to a frown.

"Do you know her?"

Pyrrha stepped forwards. "She was in our history classes during first semester. Velvet transferred out after that, though. We were all a bit sad that she left."

"Well, she just rejoined CFVY in order to participate in the live mission training," he explained before waving the thought away. "But that's not the point. Did you see her around recently?"

"We haven't seen any of them," I stated. The dark-skinned boy groaned as he brushed a lock of his hair.

"Great. I think I got the wrong location for our meetup." He let out a sigh as he pulled out his scroll. " **ONE NEW NOTIFICATION,** " the machine spoke out loud.

"Open up message, Plexi."

" **PLAYING MESSAGE FROM COCO ADEL. MESSAGE SENT TODAY, 1:02 P.M.** " That's half an hour ago, I think. "Hello? Fox?" A female voice escaped the scroll's speaker. "Sorry about being late in calling you. None of us are at the lockers at the moment. We all kinda got hungry, so we decided to go over to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I don't think you mind walking over to the cafeteria, right? Anyways, see ya over there my little foxy." The call ended.

"Oh joy," he deadpanned as he snapped the scroll closed. "I really should be checking my scroll more often. I swear, they're probably laughing at me right now." The boy named Fox turned his head in the general direction of us. "Well, sorry about bothering you two about that. I guess I'll be on my way now."

"Wait." Pyrrha had her hand held out. "We happen to be going in that direction as well. If you want, you can walk with us. At least until we get to the cafeteria."

The boy let out a hum. "You know what? That sounds fine with me." He took my partner's hand and shook it. "My name's Fox Alistair, member of team CFVY."

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos." She held her hand out towards me. "The boy over to my left is Jaune Arc. We're both members of team JNPR, first years." Fox squinted as he turned his head in my direction, staring at me with those pupilless eyes. They seemed to stare through me instead of at me. Emerald eyes glanced at Fox's eyes before widening. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't consider the fact that—"

"No, it's fine," he stated, waving her concern away. "It took me awhile to find his Aura." The man stuck his hand out towards me. "For a moment I wasn't able to sense it, but there's no need to worry about that now. Jaune, was it?"

I took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Yeah. Nice to meet you, Fox."

We started towards the cafeteria. The air around us felt heavy and agitated. It was like ripples in the water. After a couple of minutes of silence, I turned towards the scarred boy. "So, being able to sense Auras. That's a cool ability. How did you get that?"

Fox hummed. "The story's a bit complicated. I'd been… unable to see ever since I was born, so I was resigned to not being able to see the world. My parents didn't want to leave me alone, so they used to bring me with them all the time. So one day when I was visiting the city with my parents for some kind of shopping trip to a supermarket. One thing that stuck out in my mind was the chill. When you can't see, you tend to rely on your senses a lot more, and I definitely remembered how cold it was in the freezer section. The sounds of a cleaver smacking against meat sounded in my ears. My hands were pressed on some kind of glass wall." He shook his head.

"Sorry, going off topic. The most important sensation I remembered was this sharp edge biting into my skin. I think I somehow managed to cut myself on the edge of the display. Soon afterward I got this high fever. You know, dumb kid stuff." That caught my attention. A high fever after getting cut? He continued: "No medicine helped lower it down. In a panic, my parents had my Aura unlocked by one of the doctors to see if it would go down. Sure enough, when I woke up that morning, two things came to mind: one, my fever was gone; two, a purple flame surrounding a humanoid form leaned over my face."

The boy laughed at the memory. "I thought for a moment that I died or something. It took the doctor forever to calm me down. But after that, I learned that I could see Auras and therefore people." He shrugged. "That's my story."

"Wow, that's interesting." I stuffed my hands in my pocket as my mind raced.

"Yeah." The upperclassman stuffed his hands into his pockets. "What I found interesting is what I learned later on. Anybody can actually develop the ability to see Aura if they have it unlocked. The problem comes with distinguishing the energy from the color in the environment. Aura itself is faded compared to the sharpness of the world. At least that's how it was explained to me. That's why most experts will close their eyes as they track Aura: it allows them to see it without any distractions. Fun fact for you two."

"One question," Pyrrha noted. The boy turned towards the girl. "You might be able to see Aura, but most objects don't have Aura." She gestured to the ground. "Or at least create it. I mean, there's residue from a person touching something, but that tends to fade away quickly. Remnans generate Aura, but that doesn't explain how you can move around like anyone else without bumping into anything."

A small grin climbed up his face. "You're observant. Yes, I look at other people's Aura to move. But remember what I said about the other senses?" He pointed at his ears. "I can also hear the area around me."

"... Okay?" My eyebrows flew up. "I'm not following."

"Echolocation." He pointed at the buildings around us. "Every sound is made up of a sound wave. Every time we make a sound, it flies off everywhere, bouncing off various objects around me. Those sound waves come back to my ear, and they sound different depending on how far they traveled. It's really subtle, especially for people who would use their eyes to tell where everything is. But for blind people like me, we learn to tell the difference. In fact, our senses can get sharp enough to get details that normally would be ignored.

He turned towards us. "For example. Pyrrha and Jaune, you two are six feet and six foot one respectively. Jaune, you're one-hundred and eighty-one pounds, give or take a pound. Pyrrha, you take more conservative steps than Jaune, who steps with more ease. You two both take deep, easy breaths like how Huntsmen should breathe. No wait, Pyrrha's is slightly better. Jaune's breaths actually is a bit more ragged." My breath hitched at his comment. He leaned in a bit closer. "Barely noticeable, but it's still there. Did you go outside and do some exercise today?"

"... Does running around the school to catch up on school assignments count?" I laughed nervously as sweat started dripping down my face. Oh crud! He has the ability to call me out on my excuses! What do I do? I stared at the boy. Wait a minute… me running around was hours ago! Most people would recover within an hour at most! How can he tell that I exerted myself? I narrowed my eyes. There's no way that he could be able to tell that! Unless… Could this guy be…?

Fox shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it does. First-year teachers are a pain to deal with. Learning history and Grimm studies were kind of a waste of time. Good thing you start getting more missions later on. Classes become more practical, too. More hands-on stuff. But I'm getting off-topic again. You two get the point?" We nodded. "... I'm going to assume that you two nodded, judging from how the Aura moved."

We continued on our way to the cafeteria in silence. My eyes flickered to the unsuspecting Fox. I wish it wasn't so soon, but I'm most likely going to get into a fight with him if he happened to be a Stand user. But this isn't good. If he wasn't lying in his story, he must've had his ability for more than half of his life! If I'm not careful, he can take me apart! Plus, something tells me he has a suspicion as well. I gotta figure out his Stand ability before he can figure out I'm a Stand user.

Think, Jaune! What did he say earlier that's important to note? I bit my lip. First things first: he's blind. I don't know how that's useful, but it might lead me somewhere. Fox can see individuals and their Aura around them. Maybe it's—? No, that's not right. He said himself anybody with an unlocked Aura can eventually do it. His Stand ability can't possibly have to do anything with Aura. What else… I scratched my head as I let out a groan.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha glanced at me. "Are you okay?" The dark-skinned boy followed suit.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… feeling really hungry!" I rubbed my stomach with a bit of emphasis. "I could really use something to eat right now!"

The boy beside me smiled. "I wouldn't worry about that. I think we're—" He clicked his heel against the tiled road. The rumbling in the air increased for just a moment. "—a building away from the cafeteria." My eyes widened as I glanced at the street. It's just as he said; we're one building away! "You'll get your food, don't worry about that."

I blinked as a thought hit me. The air! He just gave us a talk about echolocation a couple of minutes ago! While it's true that the blind relies on their other senses, there's no way that anyone can use sound that well; at least not to the extent that Fox can. He has to have some kind of help. Maybe Fox has the ability to create sound waves… no, that's not right. Soundwaves aren't that accurate. They're too reliant on a direct path. Plus, they drown out over other sounds. He should be occasionally misjudging the distance, but he's not!

But what if waves are involved? They don't have to be sound waves. … What if he can cause vibrations? Air molecules bump into objects and themselves all the time. If he was able to vibrate the air molecules around him, they can bounce around and make a rough outline for him to "see." It could explain the weird feeling in the air I've been having ever since I joined Fox. And based on those vibrations, he can make accurate guesses. But how can I prove that?

"We're here." I looked up in surprise to see the glass door of the cafeteria entrance. Fox rubbed his forearms before holding his right hand out. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways. It's nice talking with you two. Pyrrha." He shook the girl's hand. "Jaune." I took it in my hand and shivered. It was slight, barely noticeable, but I noticed a tiny amount of rumbling. It was uniform, not like how a normal handshake should feel. I guess that proves it. Now the question is whether he's trying to kill us or not.

"Oh wait!" the upperclassman raised an eyebrow. "I had a great time with you, Fox. I wouldn't mind if we traded contact info. Pyrrha, could you go ahead and order for us?"

"Okay," the girl nodded. "Is there anything you want as a topping?"

"For what— oh, the pizza! Uh, I'm not that picky." I waved her away as I chuckled. "Go ahead and order whatever you feel like ordering." Pyrrha nodded as she disappeared behind the door. The second the door closed, I felt the vibrations in the air thicken. The small smile that was on Fox's face dropped faster than an airship with a malfunctioning gravity core.

"So, Jaune," the boy stated, taking on a more hostile tone. "I don't think you kept me out here to just exchange numbers and then move on." One of my eyes twitched. Was I really being that obvious? "Let's cut to the chase. Why are you keeping me here?" Yep, I gotta do something quick before this bites back at me!

In an instant, I lunged over at him with my arm outstretched. His neutral face turned into shock and then anger. With that, a wiry humanoid figure appeared out of thin air. It reminded me of the wire figures one of my sisters liked to make, where she would take a wire and twist and coil it to make it resemble a human. What's noticeable is that its head and arms are metal prongs, most likely tuning forks. The copper and steel figure had an eye on each prong of its head.

The wire Stand roared as it smashed its hands into its head. A moment later, my entire body started pulsating. Little waves rippled through my skin, forcing me to stop in my tracks. "What?" I yelled out. It's like my legs are jelly! No matter how much I pull on it, it just won't move the way I want it to! "What's going on?"

"This is the ability of  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ.** **」** And now that you're immobilized, let me have a talk of my own." Fox started making his way over to me. "I noticed the signs the moment I tried to sense your Aura. People like us have their Auras slightly out of place. It's what happens when we have to summon our Aura spirit out over and over. Yours, while really close to your body, is maybe a centimeter off compared to your body." His face turned to sorrow. "Jaune, I thought you were a good person. The way you spent time with your partner, seeing how close you two are, I thought that there wasn't a need to take you down. Guess I was wrong."

I gritted my teeth as I brought **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** out. "I'm sorry as well. I don't want to do this, either." The waves on my skin mellowed out as I made myself as light as possible. The boy's mouth opened in surprise, but before he could say anything, I rushed towards him and tackled him. In an instant, I made myself dense, sending us plummeting and pinning the upperclassman down to the ground. I snatched a pebble, increased its density, and held it up. "Don't try anything!"

He scoffed. "Kinda too late for that." A cry escaped my mouth as a tuning fork smacked me in the head, causing my body to vibrate again. With a grunt, he pushed me off of him and stood back up. This isn't good. I'm lying on the floor and he can just kill me at any time! His Stand floated in front of him, ready to knock me out. Maybe I can make myself less dense again? Before I could do that, he had his Stand slam their metal prongs into the ground, locking my body in place. Fox frowned. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, Jaune. I'm going to give you one last chance. What are you trying to do here?"

I widened my eyes. "Wait, so you're not trying to kill me with your Stand?" My words caught Fox by surprise.

"What? Why would I kill you? I thought you were trying to kill me!"

"No, I wasn't! But if we're both not trying to kill each other, then—" The realization hit the both of us. He was trying to stay out of the way the whole entire time. And I decided to attack him before we had the chance to explain anything. "... I messed up, didn't I?"

"Make that we. We messed up."  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** disappeared, releasing me from the vibrations and its grip on me. He held his hand out towards me, grabbed one of my hands, and pulled me back up to my feet. "Sorry about that. I was kinda expecting an attack the second I realized that you had a similar ability, a Stand you called it? It was an overreaction." He placed his hands within his pockets. "The thing is, sometime after I got the ability, people who had the same gifts started coming towards me. A lot of them weren't good people, wanting to kill me or kidnap me or something like that. I got these scars in one particular fight." He held up his cut up limbs.

"Luckily, they stopped only half a year after the attacks started. Since then, I haven't met another person who can see the Aura spirits. But it did teach me an important lesson, something that will never leave my mind even now." He lifted his face up. "Those who can see these ghosts will find others with the same talent. And if they ever come together, a fight is almost certain to happen. You saw it for yourself, Jaune. We attacked each other in self-defense. Somehow, we are going to have a confrontation. It's a good thing ours ended before we could really hurt each other."

My mind ran as I thought of the implications. Stand users will find other Stand users. Everything makes so much sense now. How Nolan managed to run into Ruby the day he became a Stand user, why Torchwick and Neo happened to be at the docks this morning. If that's true, then that means we're beacons that can draw other Stand users! Even if we decide to stay out of the Arrow business, it was only going to be a matter of time before another Stand user just stumbles into us. That's frightening. To think that we're going to be fighting for our lives no matter what. I tightened my fist. That makes our mission even more important.

"But that's enough talking for a long time." I looked into Fox's face. "We've wasted enough time. My team's waiting for me, and your friend's waiting for you. So let's part ways for now, alright?" He opened the door. "We'll communicate by scroll."

"Wait! I still don't have your—" He disappeared behind the door. Great. How are we supposed to exchange our numbers now— My scroll chirped. I took a glance at it.  **ONE NEW CONTACT: FOX ALISTAIR.**  Wait a minute, how did he unlock my scroll and plug in his info without taking my device out? Did he use his Stand while— I sighed as I shook my head. This is way too much for me. Let's just have a pizza with Pyrrha.

* * *

I let out a two note hum as I walked through the hallway. My headphones blared the calming sounds of rock straight into my ears. Crescent Rose sat between my arms, thankfully not making too much sound. Yang finally managed to calm down after stepping on the tapeworm, which finally meant that I could start working on repairing my baby! It's mainly going to be sharpening and checking the blade integrity of the scythe, but there's bound to be parts that I could reuse or even recycle once I get new ones.

Plus, this can be the perfect excuse to upgrade it! Maybe I should get stronger material so that I can still use it after such a high fall. Considering how we're probably going to drop from higher distances, the fact that Crescent Rose became unusable at that height meant there are still some adjustments to be done.

Before I could continue on with my daydream, I realized that there were three individuals standing in the way. They were wearing more formal uniforms from Haven, by the looks of it. The group comprised of a green-haired girl, a gray-headed boy, and a brunette with amber eyes. Huh, that's interesting… the brunette is wearing only one white glove. I guess it's just a fashion statement, although I don't think it works well with the Haven uniforms.

All three of them created sort of a barrier that stopped me from passing by. Their eyes were focused on each other rather than me, just chatting along about… something. I can't really hear them with all of the music blaring in my ears.

"Um, excuse me?" All three individuals looked at me as I flicked my headphones down. "Hi, sorry. Can one of you guys scoot over? I'm trying to get to the forge, and well…" I pointed at the brunette.

"Of course. My apologies." She stepped to the side, brushing a lock of hair from her forehead. "I wasn't paying attention. Carry on."

"Alright, thanks." I started forwards before a realization hit me. "Wait a minute…" I hummed as I tapped my feet. "Didn't I meet you guys before? I remember running into you guys— Oh!" I pointed at them. "We bumped into each other in the beginning of the second semester in this very hallway! You guys were looking for your dorm rooms!"

"Oh? Did we?" The brunette lifted an eyebrow, glancing at me for a moment before coming to a realization. "That's right. You were the girl who bumped into Emerald a couple of months ago. Remember that?"

The girl with the mint colored hair nodded. "Yeah." Her red eyes glanced at me. "I believe it was… Ruby, right?" She held out a hand. "We should've introduced ourselves back then. I'm Emerald, the gray haired brat to my left is Mercury—"

"Hey!"

"And the woman to my left is Cinder." The brunette nodded, eyeing me with a bit of interest.

I nodded. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm sorry that I can't shake your hand. I mean, mine are already pretty occupied." I lifted Crescent Rose up for emphasis. "Well, I'm going to go do my thing now, so…" I slipped past the group. "Bye, guys! I'll see ya in class tomorrow!"

A shiver went down my spine as I hurried through the hallway. They seemed like okay people the last time I met them. The three of them were pretty friendly now. But at the same time, there's something that I can't put my finger on. It's the slightest feeling of a shiver. I feel like I'll meet them again in some way…

⇐ _ **TO BE CONTINUED= September 1, 2017**_

* * *

**Nolan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 3**

My Stand stood on the ceiling, staring at my pacing form. My eyes flickered at the empty hallway I'm standing in. If I'm right, this should be where most of the first-year Beacon students live. I just hope that Ruby was around and available to talk to me.

You know, now that I think about it, it's kinda sad that my only lead to finding the mystery person sending notes would be an awkward weapons nerd who beat my face in with a punch ghost. And to think that yesterday I wouldn't ever consider becoming acquaintances with such a person. I sighed as I slammed my back against a nearby wall, crossing my arms. And now there's a lizard monster hanging from the ceiling that I personally control. What a weird road my life has turned to.

"So," I said to no one in particular, staring into the Stand's eyes. "I guess you're just going to stay on the ceiling until I say otherwise, right?" It flickered its tongue. "Alright. That's cool." I glanced at the sides of the corridor. Still no Ruby. I wonder how cool it would be to monologue to no one in particular. "You know what, **「** **BELFRY FALLS?** **」** It's actually kinda cool having you. Horrifying powers aside, I always wanted a pet lizard."

I chuckled to myself. "It's kinda stupid, I know. I live in the deserts of Vacuo, and I see lizards all the time. Why in the world would I want a pet reptile?" My shoulders moved up in a shrug. "I guess before I went to Shade, I wanted a friend to keep me company. Being the only kid in a big trade caravan sucks. You never get the chance to make friends your age, and I never clicked with the other adults. It's just a lot of time in your head. Well, either that or talking to cacti and the local wildlife. Until Shade, I wanted someone who would truly be my companion."

My hands pulled my shades out. I started fiddling with it. "Well, the friend aspect's been taken care of with Branz, Roy, and May at my side. Still wanted a lizard though. And I guess I got one in the form of you, **「** **BELFRY FALLS.** **」** Although I was expecting more of a gecko or some other small lizard, not the burly komodo dragon you are. But hey. Bigger is better, right?" I let out a sigh as I tucked the sunglasses back into my shirt. Yeah… that felt pretty stupid. Let's not do that again out loud.

Back to the task at hand. "Maybe it's just not my day and Ruby's not doing anything. Maybe I can go around and start knocking on doors. Wait… I wonder if they have maps telling where each team lives?"

Only a second passed after I pulled my scroll out when I caught the sound of humming to my left. Walking through the hallway was Ruby, lugging around a broken up piece of metal. Was she doing weapon repairs, because wow. That looked messed up. The young Stand user had red headphones on, and she hummed along to some kind of fast-paced song. Rock, maybe?

"Hey. Hey!" I waved my hand in front of her as she passed by. Ruby blinked, shaking her head before looking at me. "Can I ask you for a favor?" The girl tilted her head in confusion. I said it again, a little louder this time.

She shook her head before pulling her headphones off. "Hi Nolan. Did you need something from me?"

I nodded my head. "It's really important that you can't tell this to anybody, okay? What I'm about to tell you has to stay secret to everyone."

"Everyone?" The girl glanced around the area before leaning close to my ear. "Does it have to do with the Arrow?"

"No! Nothing like that! It's not that kind of secret!" I backed off and scratched my head. "It's more of a curiosity that I wanted to figure out. Girl stuff."

"Oh… Okay." Ruby nodded her head, the weapon bobbing with her. "I thought that you were talking about important information about our mission, considering your Stand's hanging from the ceiling and all that—"

"I was passing time, that's all." I waved the matter aside.

"Well, whatever you say." The young girl cocked her head to the side. "What kind of girl stuff are you talking about? I mean, I can answer a lot about what we need to do whenever it's our time of month, but don't you know other—"

"Not what I meant!" I had to slam my hand against my increasingly warming face. "I was talking more along the lines of gossip and all that!"

She let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, that's great. Because it would be really weird to talk about that kind of stuff. But I'm not really into the gossiping thing. I might bring it up with my sister. She's more into this kind of stuff than me. What do you want to talk about?"

"Right." I pulled up the image of the letter from my scroll before showing it to Ruby. "So my teammate this afternoon received this love note. And like the great supportive team we are, we started betting on who it could be. So far we figured out that a girl must've written it due to the handwriting and the ink color, but the trail's gone cold after that. Do you have any idea where I can go to figure this out?"

"Yeah, I can go to my sister Yang and ask if she's heard anything about that. She's more than willing to share gossip. But… hmm…" She rested her chin against the butt stock of her weapon. "We did have finals recently… I'm not sure if all of the stuff is graded yet, but I'm pretty sure there's a writing section that everybody had to do. I think. It's hard to remember finals." Ruby shook her head. "I would say just look for some graded stuff and compare."

"Alright, thanks Ruby. I'll send you a copy of the image to show to your sister. I'm going off now."

"Bye!" And with that, we parted ways. You know what? Looking for graded stuff is a good idea. I should do that. Let's see… I should go to the office of the History professor. We did a lot of writing there, so there has to be something that isn't graded. A smile crawled up my face as I pulled up a site on pick locks. Man, it's been some time since I had to break into a place to get what I want.

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Reference: Fox's 「TERIYAKI BOYZ」is a reference to not a song, but the band Teriyaki Boyz. Yes, there's a band by that name. These guys aren't really that famous. If anything, they fell into obscurity since the 2000s. But I remember being introduced to them through the movie Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. A memorable song they made was Tokyo Drift, which is very original song title I know. But I chose Teriyaki Boyz mainly because Fox's backstory does take a couple of pages from the movie in terms of being lost and learning a new skill while enemies are all around you trying to get you. Also, I just like the name. Teriyaki Boyz sounds so JoJo.


	18. Eastern Glow

_The two ninjas collapsed as soon as they reached the base of the mountain. Behind them bamboo shoots rose and pierced through the heavens, hiding the couple from any onlookers. The young and plucky woman flinched and surveyed the area as she pulled herself up. Aside from the bamboo, there was no other living thing around. No birds soared from above; no worms swam through the earth. Even the wind held her breath here. There was no better hiding place for the duo._

" _Mureba," the feminine warrior gasped, dragging and resting her partner against the side of the stone cliff. "We made it. I don't think that the_ _Kobura isn't going to be chasing us this far. You're going to be okay."_

_A glance from her compatriot said otherwise. She let out a cry. His silken robes, normally black, grew crimson red. She pressed her hands against the bloody circle. Her fingers felt the liquid of life ooze out. Mureba sighed. "Momo, you don't have to lie to yourself. We both know what's going to happen to you and me. They're going to chase us down to the ends of the earth and kill us both." He cupped her face. "We're not going to ever live that happy life we both envisioned."_

_Tears ran down Momo's face as she cupped the man's face. Dirt and sweat remained on his face, covering up the handsome face of the one she loved. She shook her head. "Don't say stuff like that. You have to live. I— I got you the antidote, right? Nobody's going to separate the two of us. I'm not going to let anyone come near you, okay?" Her voice became vicious. "I'll paint this world red with the blood of our clan if it meant that I'll be with you forever! But you have to live. I don't know what I'll do if you leave me alone."_

_The normally stoic man started tearing up as well. "And I can't imagine seeing you die because of me. What I did back there was irresponsible." He sighed as he glanced at the sky. "What was I thinking, attempting to assassinate the clan leader? How is that going to make our lives better? I pulled you into this, Momo. The responsibility is all mine. You don't deserve a man like me."_

_She shook her head. "The Kobura weren't going to let us go either way. We couldn't hide our relationship forever. You did whatever it took to free us from this life. I don't blame you for that. You shouldn't shoulder so much of the blame. After all, it was my mistake letting Mizudori learn about the two of us. We're both responsible for our fate right now, and we must both face it together."_

" _Momo," the man whispered. She glanced down at the love of her life. "Thank you. You are the most wonderful woman I've ever met. I'm glad to have you as my partner."_

" _No… We're more than that." She nudged her lips onto his. His long arms pulled her close as they enjoyed the simple yet sweet embrace. A soft moan escaped her mouth as his coarse arms slowly slid down her body before slipping under her clothes. A shiver flew down her spine as his warm hands brushed against her back, hitting all of the right spots. With little hesitation, Momo slipped her head towards the growing bulge between his legs. Her soft hands slowly tugged against the silk trousers, revealing the massive perfection that is his—_

"Blake!"

I jerked myself up from my reading. "Huh?" A couple of blinks revealed the four of us cramped together in an aisle of the airship.

Yang leaned over to the right of me. She had a wide grin that revealed everything. "Oh, I'm sorry, kitten. Did I disturb you just as you got into the hot, steamy part?" Lilac eyes glanced down into the exposed pages. "Ooh, licking the wound. That's pretty kinky." My face twisted into a frown as I snapped it shut. I can feel the heat radiating from my face. My partner nudged me with her shoulder. "Something you wanna say to the class, Blakey?"

My ears drooped slightly at her accusation. "Wha— No!" I pulled the novel close to my chest. "Come on, Yang, don't you have anything better to do than bother me? Seriously, what's with your obsession with me reading Ninjas of Love?"

"How about it's nothing but smut?" Weiss called out from the other side of the aisle. Ruby looked at me with a curious look on her face. "Every time I think something's going to happen in the story, the characters just start getting intimate with each other! How does anything get done with all of the sex happening in that story?"

"... Wait." Yang gave the heiress a lecherous grin. "Weiss, you read the book?" The growing redness on Weiss' face said it all. Yang chucked. "I'm surprised. The next-in-line to the Schnee Dust Company an avid smut reader? That is gold—"

Ruby let out a sigh. "Yang, we all did, remember?" At that the blonde's eyes widened, twisting her face towards her little sister. I let out a grunt as her mane of a hair smacked me.

"What? You— We did? Since when?"

My leader sighed again. "Yup. Remember that one time during the break between first semester and second semester? Nora pulled that book out of one of our shelves and challenged all of us to start reading it out loud. If we could get through an entire chapter without stumbling or making a face, we would win some lien. Blake won that one; Weiss got pretty close." She gave me a glare. "I still think you shouldn't be in the bet. It is your book after all." I gave all of them a shrug. Twenty lien is twenty lien, no matter how you get it.

The white-haired girl groaned, pressing her face into her hands. "It was disgusting. The text became really graphic around halfway through. I had to stop when that couple decided to bring the horse in." The heiress shuttered as the memory popped into my head. Oh yeah, one of the controversial scenes in the series. She pressed her palms against the sides of her head and made circular motions. "Okay, Weiss, just relax and purge the thoughts out. This never happened."

Yang looked at all of us in confusion. "Wait a minute. I don't remember it happening. When exactly was—" Her hair fluttered through the air as she jumped from her seat. "You mean the day I went out to Vale for the food run? Oh my gods— I wasn't there! Are you saying Nora just gave my sister smut without me knowing?" The brawler's eyes started to flicker red. "When I come back, I'm going to show that girl a piece of my—"

"Calm down, Yang!" Ruby grabbed her sister's shoulder and yanked her down. "It was harmless. If it helps, I burst out laughing one paragraph into the chapter. The sex scenes were funny in a bad way. Seriously, how can somebody write this stuff? I don't think the author has any understanding of how sex works."

"Oh, and you do?" I said, stuffing my reading into my bag.

"Enough to know that horses and humans don't fit together!" The young girl crossed her arms as she leaned back on the plush seat, blowing her cheeks out. "Really, it feels more like an excuse to write a bunch of kinky stuff rather than create an actual romance."

"But Ninjas of Love does have good writing!" I let a scowl slip onto my face. "You have to read the entire story to see it happen, but these characters do change and evolve! It has a good plot on its own right. It just happens to have a bit of mature content to highlight the relationship between the two main characters." I can feel my face heating up again. "And that content can get… extreme sometimes."

My words were followed by the airship docking. Yang laughed as she yanked herself to a standing position and stretching out her limbs. "Sure thing, Blake. 'Cause two people in a three-way with a horse sounds really romantic. Get me a horse when I'm married, and I'm sure I can spice up the bedroom."

I opened my mouth to let out a retort when Ruby stepped between us. "Guys, enough!" Ruby whined. "We're here in Vale!" I heard her mutter "again" under her breath. Out loud she continued: "Why don't we just enjoy our time in the city? We have the rest of the day to have fun! So let's have some fun!" With that, she rushed out of the airship.

The rest of us looked at each other before nodding and following her out. We were greeted with the relatively uncrowded airbus station. At this time of day, most people would probably still be at work or something. It's a relief that we have the opportunity to get here. Classes are ending sooner than in the first semester; the reason being the Vytal Festival coming up within the month. Still, I can't find any reason to complain. More free time means more time to train, read, research. I brushed a lock of hair back as I felt my stomach rumble. Maybe we can find a nice cafe to eat at.

"So, what do we do?" Weiss asked as we caught up to the girl. "Do you have any plans for us this time?"

Ruby looked sheepish the moment her partner asked her that question. She didn't say a word, instead chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of her neck. "Uhh, maybe go find some kind of place to eat at?"

We all stood silent. "That's it?" Weiss' eyelid started twitching. "So we came out all the way to Vale just to have lunch?"

"Well, I also wanted to buy parts to rebuild Crescent Rose as well, but I don't know past that!" Our leader waved her arms in front of her. "I was really excited about Crescent Rose coming back to me yesterday, and I wasn't thinking when I made the decision!" She is absolutely turning crimson right now. "I'm so sorry guys for wasting your time and—"

"Ruby, it's fine," I interrupted. "It doesn't matter if we just have lunch in the city. At least we're spending some time together as a group." I placed a hand under my chin. "That being said, Tukson's Book Trade is having a closing sale after the owner passed away, and I wouldn't mind getting a couple of books to add to my collection."

"Actually, that wouldn't be a bad idea." Weiss nodded. "I've heard a lot of good things about the bookstore, but I've never gotten the chance to go. It might be an… interesting experience to see." She glanced at me, catching my attention. From the corner of my eye, she made tiny movements with her ring finger, gesturing towards herself. Right. We needed to talk.

"Well, if that's the case…" Yang placed a hand on Ruby's hair, eliciting a whine out of the younger sister. "I'll just come with Ruby to the weapons store! She'll need a second opinion on what parts to buy, and who else would be better for the job than me? I've known Crescent Rose just as long as Ruby has, after all."

"You didn't have to say that last part." My bow twitched. "We would've just taken your word for it." My partner didn't say anything, instead giving us a sly grin as she shrugged.

"I think it does. Anyways, I guess this is where we're splitting up. It's probably going to take us a lot longer to find all of the parts we need as well as getting all of the deals down, so when you guys are done, can you find a cafe or something? Just send us a message through your scroll." I nodded. Yang smiled yet again as she snatched Ruby's hand. "Thanks guys! Well, see ya!" Before we could say anything, the two sisters took off, leaving us in the dust.

"Well, okay…" Weiss turned to look at me. "So where's the bookshop place?"

"Well, it's on Spruce Lane, which… is on the same road as the weapons store, just separated by a couple of blocks." I sighed. "Yeah, now that I think about it, we all could've just went together."

"Oh well," the heiress sighed as we started moving towards our destination. "What can we do? My partner's going to be nerding out all day over rebuilding her gun scythe and Yang's just going to be Yang. I don't mind taking it slow and walking on a different path, especially after… everything that's happened so far."

I nodded, leaning my head back to look at the Gothic-style buildings. "So do you want to talk about what happened?"

She shook her head. "You know what Ruby said. Not out here. Maybe we'll be better off in the bookstore, where we can at least pay attention to everything around us." Weiss rubbed the base of her nose. We didn't speak for the next few minutes, making our way to the store with little else happening. It's only when we approached the building when she spoke again. "I don't like having to be so secretive about everything. There's so much that happened within the past few days alone. I can't believe that all of this happened without us noticing… I can't believe Ruby's been going through this alone."

My eyebrows flew up. "Didn't she say that Jaune was also in on the secret?"

"That's true, but when you think about it, this started way back when Ruby fell unconscious a few weeks back. She had to deal with being able to see her Stand all by herself." Weiss ran a finger against the rough scar on her face. "And we didn't believe anything she said. It's just— I feel like a terrible partner now that I realize what she went through."

A bell rang as we entered the store. Tukson's Book Trade looked as pristine as the day I first walked in. All of the walls were filled to the brim with hundreds, no thousands of books! There's one long wall dedicated to fiction, and it's big; it's so big that there were little tags sticking out, pointing out when genres changed from sci-fi to fantasy to romance, so on and so forth.

It seemed like no format escaped the bookstore's grasp: stands stood in the center of the store filled with comic books, posters, codes for digital copies, collector DVD sets for various shows, the list goes on and on. Even if there wasn't something you were looking for on the shelves, Tukson would always have whatever you're looking for in his back storage. There's a good reason why Tukson's Book Store's slogan is "The Bookstore With All Stories Under the Sun." This was a haven for all things literary and more.

It's sad then to see several "All Things Must Go!" signs invade this wonderful place. I can't remember how long it was since the bookstore owner died, roughly two months ago it seems? The police generally agreed that his death was foul play, but the case went cold after that. It seemed as if nobody could figure out the case of his death. I know better. Who couldn't recognize Tungsten Tukson, one of the scariest enforcers of the White Fang? A man who was at the front of the crowd protecting faunus protesters when the police came down, and one of the original members who stayed after the transition to Khan. He's gone now.

I sighed, letting my head fall. Despite his scary nickname, he was a gentle soul. Someone who only wanted the best for his people, and would do anything to make sure nobody on either side got hurt. No wonder Tukson decided to run away to who-knows-where. He must've come to the same conclusion as I had. Too bad the White Fang caught on to his plans and ended his departure early.

And because the faunus owner didn't have anybody to take over the store for him, the city of Vale decided to take over from there. Now here we are now a couple of months later, watching the dying gasps of the old store. The burly yet friendly Tukson will never stand behind the counter ever again. In his stead was a bored twenty-something on his scroll, uncaring of the slow decay of the store around him. There wasn't a single soul in the store aside from him. I bit my lip in a silent rage. A place like this deserved a more dignified death than this.

"So, Blake." Weiss walked over to the fiction section and snatched up an old tome:  _Oliver Twist_. Hmm... strange. A book from before the Great War? "This place is safe enough. I'm sure that the guy over there won't do anything to harm us. That being said..." Her face turned stoic. "How much did you experiment with your Stand?"

"I couldn't get much in, but it's mainly seeing just what I can do." My Stand appeared behind me. "It's more limited than I think. The best I can do is bring in 3D objects with me, like my scroll. I thought about trying to drag images of items out, but it doesn't work. Then there's the fact that whatever I fuse to must be inanimate and around my size. And then there's the fact that it's a bit harder to see while I'm merged. It feels like staring into a screen when I look into the physical world with limited camera movement. I try to make up for it with my ears," I wiggled my bow, "But that's something I'm trying to work around." I glanced at the heiress. "What about you? Did you manage to summon your Stand yet?"

She shook her head. "Still nothing." The heiress glanced down at the open book. "I'm not sure. Ruby didn't really get a chance to explain too much before Yang came in and Crescent Rose distracted the girl. It's just—" Weiss sighed. "It does pain me a bit, seeing you guys be able to use your Stand while I can't do anything. If we have to fight, I'm not going to be able to do much." She sighed as she snapped the book closed. "But let's not talk about that anymore. What bothered me ever since yesterday were the messages Ruby sent to us."

A hum escaped my mouth as I pulled out  _The Man With Two Souls._ "Yeah, there's a lot to think about. This thing about the Cupid and the Arrow, how that Nolan kid was the Stand user who attacked us back on Saturday, our Headmaster's role in all of this. Even the thing Jaune sent to us about how Stand users will meet other Stand users. It's so surreal… It reminds me of that one superhero doctor who can actually control magic."

"... Well, I don't understand that reference, but I think I get the point." Weiss glanced up at the shelves. "There isn't a lot we know about this world. We try our best to figure out the rules so that we can change it, and in a single day, we gain abilities that actively defy the rules of reality. It messes with the mind to be sure." She shook her head. "But enough about that. Did you find anything that you want to get?"

I shook my head. "I tend to order ahead of time and pick up my usual purchases directly from the owner, due to the… more mature elements." I glared at her as she coughed "smut" in her hand. "But I might buy the entire series for  _The Man With Two Souls._  Considering what we've been… experiencing, I think having another read through this story might help get used to all of this. Maybe the text could help you with summoning your Stand."

"That would be nice." The heiress let out a hum. "You know what? I remember this brand new cafe nearby that I visited earlier this month. It's on the cheaper side, but they serve a lot of good drinks and food. They also give out discounts for Hunters-in-Training, so there's that. It's run by two sisters who used to be maids to nobility. What was the name of this cafe? … Maybe it was F&F."

"F&F?" I raised my eyebrows.

"It's short for Flora & Felicia. That's probably the owners of the cafe." Weiss adjusted her ponytail. "So what do you think?"

"... That sounds interesting. I guess we can check it out."

* * *

A frown ran across my face as I pulled against the bolt mechanism in front of me. The mechanism did move, but only after a lot of force. It's fresh off of the 3D printer, and I know I used my final schematics, but something's not right. The bolt's too firm. I'm sure that I oiled and broke down the mechanism so that it would feed smoothly, but it's still not to my satisfaction. Did I make minor adjustments beforehand and didn't record that change? I groaned to myself. That's something I would probably do.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Yang looked over my shoulder. "Huh. Tight bolt. I thought you had the right schematics this time."

"Apparently not," I sighed. "Man, this sucks. I can't believe I have to go back and get Crescent Rose just to get some measurements. This feels embarrassing." A thought struck me. "Wait a moment… the rocket lockers! I have Crescent Rose in one of those! Yang, hold my spot!" I rushed outside, pulled out my scroll and hit the panic button. Even from our location, I could see the white smoke of the rocket streak across the sky from the distant castle in the background. It was mesmerizing watching the rocket arc towards us.

I stepped backward, allowing the rocket to smash into the ground where I once stood. My arm shielded my face from the bits of cement flying from the ground. The container opened with a hiss, revealing the still beaten up Crescent Rose. I lifted my child with care, keeping my finger off of the mechashift mechanism. Maybe the sniper scythe can't fire a bullet, but the scythe itself has been repaired. She's definitely usable, but I prefer to fix everything about the weapon first before I bring her back into the field. And I'd rather not destroy the shopkeeper's store again.

"Alright, then," I stated, humming a couple of notes before laying the weapon onto the 3D printer. With a hand drill, I started to pull out the screws holding Crescent Rose together. "You know, Yang. There's something I wanted to ask you about."

She turned her head in interest. "Ooh, is my sister… participating in gossip?" The blonde rubbed her hands in glee. "I didn't expect that out of you, Ruby. It's a surprise seeing my baby sister talking about another person."

My face flushed. "It's nothing like that! I just… ran right into this problem. But anyway, yesterday I ran into that guy who got hurt Saturday. You know, the guy with the jean jackets, shades, wears this designer shirt thing—"

"Yeah, I remember him." My sister waved away the thought. "I think Jaune had a talk with him while I was around. Wasn't his name something that started with an N or something? North or something like that?"

"Nolan. Yeah, that's the guy. Apparently his team's been getting love letters directed towards one of his teammates. Which one was it?" My eyebrows furrowed as one screw refused to come out. From the looks of it, the shank on the screw might be slightly bent. "I think it was May Zedong or something like that."

"Wait, the really shy sniper girl?" Yang had to stifle a laugh. "The one who doesn't try to talk to anyone outside of her team? Is somebody sending love letters to her? What, doesn't the person realize that texting is a thing these days?" A snort came out of the girl. "Sorry, that's rude of me. But congrats to her for having an admirer. So, who's the guy sending these notes to her?"

"Not a guy." I cheered in victory as the stubborn screw came out. I looked at the grooves on the head. Whew, didn't strip the bolt. That would be annoying to deal with if I did. "It's a girl."

"... That's even better!" My elder sister got into my face, her hair drooping down onto the table. "Aw man, I bet whoever the two are, they will make one hell of a cute couple! Ruby, now you have to—"

"Yang, off the table. The last thing I need is to accidentally get a lock of hair caught in this drill."

"Whoops! Sorry." She backed off, pulling her hair back at the same time. "No, but who is it really? This is perfect teasing material!"

"I don't know." Her face dropped just like that. "Well in my defense, the guy I was talking to doesn't know either. He actually came to me to ask if I knew anyone who can point him in the right direction."

"So you're asking me to help with this search." Yang placed a hand under her chin as she nodded. "That seems like a fun thing to do. So where do we start?"

"With this." I unlocked my scroll and put the picture on display. Yang snatched it from my hands as I went back to unscrewing Crescent Rose. "This is the one from yesterday. Nolan's team generally agreed that the handwriting is close to a girl's, but they can't put a finger on whose handwriting it is. I'm not much for penmanship either, but maybe you might have something for this."

"Alright. You don't mind if I send the picture to myself, right?"

I shook my head. "Go ahead. I can't exactly do a lot with it anyways." The last screw came loose, making a small clang is it fell onto the table. Finally! I popped Crescent Rose open, revealing the beautifully designed internals. Several moving parts interlaid with each other, creating a complex maze of parts that's almost impossible to decipher. That's what makes my sniper scythe mine. Only I can understand the confusing placements of all of these parts.

But that's not what I need today. The bolt mechanism left its place without a fuss. I held it up in the air, glancing at the 3D manufactured one for reference. "Hmm… the shape isn't different. But the one in Crescent Rose is still using a friction-lock system. I shouldn't be having this problem right now." I held the part up to the light. "Why in the world am I having— Oh, right!" I slapped my face. "I forgot that I used a non-stick coating as the lubricant! Man, and to think I was just using regular gun oil! I should record that for reference next time. Hey Yang?"

She didn't respond, completely immersed in looking through my scroll. "Yang? Yang!" The blonde girl jumped in place before looking up. My hand was outstretched. "Can I have my scroll back, please? I have to record something."

"Oh… Sure," she responded, pressing a couple more buttons before handing the device back to me. "Sorry about taking so long, I think the connection's got a little spotty for a moment. But I got the image. I'll look into it and tell you if I found anything about it." The brawler rubbed her hands together. "I'm not going to give up on good blackmail material, after all."

"Thanks. Please don't actually blackmail somebody, but thanks anyway." I glanced through my scroll. Wait a minute… I'm pretty sure that I closed the messaging app earlier… huh. Did Yang…? The blonde girl was on her scroll doing her own thing. Well, she's not overreacting. Maybe she didn't see it. I shrugged as I closed the application. Guess I forgot to close it myself. I should be more careful next time. With that, I pulled up the blueprint and started editing the plans for Crescent Rose.

* * *

I tapped my foot against the ground as I waited outside of Professor Oobleck's office. The Headmaster said that I should talk to Oobleck about the Arrow. After all, he said, archeology is his specialty. Maybe he might have some information that the public might not have. I glanced around the History classroom. The wide, open study hall feels a lot more empty without anybody inside.

Right now, all I can do is just wait as the caffeinated man held another conference with another student. A sigh escaped my mouth as I looked through my scroll. I can't believe that Weiss and Blake became Stand users as well. And the Arrow was right under our noses the whole entire time! I slapped myself in the face. That's embarrassing to be sure. The Cupid managed to escape again. At least there are two more people who can help with the search now.

The door popped open, revealing a dark-skinned girl with pale yellow hair and loose, flowy garbs. Oobleck sat in his seat, sipping his thermos. "And thank you for visiting, Ms. Atlan. It's great having a discussion with a fellow archeologist. My word, your story of the Hanging Gardens of Mistral managed to enrapture me. Just getting the chance to hear about your ancestors brings a lot of joy to this already fine day." He tapped his fingers on the table. "Maybe once the semester is over, I'll take a trip and see the ruins for myself. But enough about me. Go ahead on your day." She nodded at the man, smiling before passing me and going on her way.

"Ah, Mr. Arc. Pleasant to see you here in my office." The man adjusted his glasses. "Ozpin told me you wanted my help on something."

"Yeah, um…" I rubbed the back of my head. "Can I come in?"

"Why, of course! Go ahead! Come in! Oh, and close the door while you're at that!" I did what he asked me to do. Parchment drawings of a beautiful garden sat on the table before he brushed it away. "Now, if I remember correctly, Ozpin said that there was some sort of artifact that you were tracking down, is that right?" I nodded.

The green-haired man took another sip. "While I do find it odd that you have a sudden interest in the subject matter, I don't see any fault in helping a student with such a task. Reminds me of that fictional archeologist Indigo Jones. Loved his movies, hated his style of archeology. Too bombastic. Then again, all movies are over-the-top anyways. But I'm getting off track." He leaned towards me. "What did the artifact look like?"

"Well, it was an arrow, roughly this big." I held my hand out roughly half a meter apart. "It was really simple aside from this ornate arrowhead. It had these bronze curls overlaid over a matte black finish… I think the cutting edge of the arrowhead had a shiny smooth silver polish with these wavy dark lines over it. What else… Oh! There was this hole shaped like an upside down heart with a long point!"

Oobleck tapped his fingers against his desk. "Anything about the wood of the arrow? What about the tail feathers?" I shook my head. "What about the general shape of the arrowhead? Is it cone-shaped? Barbed?"

"Huh…" I scratched my head. "I don't really know how to describe it… can I use one of these pieces of paper?"

"Go right ahead," he answered, pulling a pen and handing it to me. "They're scribbles anyways. Not really that important." With that, I made a rough sketch as best as I can. The actual drawing was crude and sketchy, but it did its job in conveying the unusual shape. It was pretty wide, going outwards before bending back in. Two half-circles connected the halves into the shaft of the arrow.

The history professor took yet another sip from his container as he observed the drawing. "Hmm… interesting… This is an ogive-shaped arrowhead, most likely a kernonen-type arrow."

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

He looked at me. "My apologies. An ogive is just a shape made by two identical curves when they intersect. It's typically tapered. For example, when you look at this image—" He pointed at the tip of the arrowhead. "This isn't honed to a fine point. It's slightly rounded. A kernonen-type arrow therefore is an arrow with that type of tapered end. This type of arrow was used in the early stages of the bronze age, when flint became widely available for people to use. Because of how flint splits when being shaped, early arrowhead makers made their arrowheads wide, which gives them their distinctive shape."

Oobleck grabbed a pen and started fiddling with it. "But hearing about the bronze overlays and the polish does throw me off. Such an arrow would most likely be made by a rich and strong lord. Someone who has access to people with a decent understanding of metallurgy. That's almost impossible to find in an age where stone tools were the common tool used. It could be a one-in-a-million genius. I would assume otherwise until then. But polish… bronze age arrowheads don't have a strong sheen, so it must be metallic. But what kind of alloy in the world can create a layered look this early on in history?" He tapped his pen against the table.

"Can't be iron, it's too hard to work with. The main material can't possibly be bronze. It can't be flint, since we've already established it's metal. What could this mystery material be? Whatever it is, it must be out of this world— that's it! The mystery material is out of this world!"

I sat up. "What is it?"

"Meteorites! Think about it. Iron by itself is too soft to work with. Most civilizations didn't use iron until they figured out that they can combine it with nickel and Dust to strengthen it! Meteorites are often made out of iron and nickel merged together! This is what I propose: wherever this arrow was made, there was a meteor shower, and some of them managed to land onto Remnant intact! One of the rich lords decided to make their weapons out of it, and they became the scourge of the land! That must be how this was made!... There is one thing that bothers me, though."

"What?"

"Why arrows? Arrows are designed to be disposable, which is why we typically use cheaper materials for arrowheads. They should not be that valuable. Why not use the meteorite for a sword, or a spear, or any weapon that is designed for long-term usage? It seems like a waste of resources to just put meteorites on arrows. Unless this said lord had a ton of meteoritic iron-nickel, which poses a lot of questions in its own right. This arrow couldn't be more than just a decorative piece."

I held my silence. I don't think that Oobleck has to know about the "other" property of the Stand arrow. He continued: "That being said, I would put my bets on it being from Vacuo or the desert communities around it. Before the Great War, it was an idyllic place. It wouldn't surprise me that they would make weapons like these before the rest of the kingdoms invaded it. And we can't forget the fact that there's probably a sheer amount of civilizations that were buried under those sands. Although Mistral was also known for making ornamental weapons… That's all I can say confidently. I'm going to need a lot of research in order to figure out the rest."

The man looked at me. "Thank you for giving me such an interesting puzzle to solve. I hoped that my ramblings helped you a little. Come back anytime if you have anything else for me or you want an update. Usual office hours. Just set up an appointment, alright?"

"Okay." I shook his hand. "Thank you for your time, Professor."

"It's Doctor, and thank you for this mystery." A smile crawled up his face, sending shivers down my spine. In an instant he pulled me off of my chair and pushed me out into the hallway. "Now if you excuse me, I have some research to do." The door slammed behind me, leaving me alone.

Well… that was an interesting experience. I think I learned a lot of stuff. Not a lot of it is useful to the search. But it's nice trivia. Mainly the meteor part. What could be in a space-rock that could give people the ability to summon Stands? Oobleck did say that meteorites are just iron and nickel already merged together. What makes this one different?

I scratched my head in frustration. Oh well. Professor Oobleck can always fill me in on other stuff. My scroll opened up in my hands as I checked through any new messages. Another groan escaped from my mouth. Nora, what did you do this time? With a sigh and the shake of myhead I started back towards the JNPR dorm room, steeling myself for whatever problem the hyperactive girl caused today.

* * *

"You know," Blake noted as she swallowed a spoonful of white fish. "This place has some pretty good food. Really fancy as well. I wonder what's in this fish soup."

I looked up from the cup of coffee in my hands. We were sitting in a wide room filled with tables and chairs. Beige drapes hung over the windows of the building, giving off a sense of elegance. The architecture itself reminded me of the stylish old-fashioned mansions of Atlas. Everything is adorned with gold paint, from every frame of a picture to the stop for the door. On the ceiling were several complex paintings that took inspiration from pre-Great War artists. Somehow I still find awe in viewing these magnificent scenes.

Several other customers sat around us, chatting about their day. They ranged from businessmen wearing fancy suits and Huntsmen wearing lavish clothes to the everyday citizens in their street clothes. Walking amongst the crowd were women dressed up in maid costumes, addressing each one of their customers with a hearty smile. If we didn't know any better and if it wasn't for the normal people sitting around, people would've sworn this was a place for the extremely rich.

"I find it nice here," I replied, taking a sip from my cup. A plate of pistachio ice cream sat half eaten. "Their ice-cream is great, but their pride and joy is by far the tiramisu cake. It's really small, but every bite tastes like perfection! It just melts in your mouth like mousse, but it has a consistency that reminds you of cake! And the cocoa they use to top off the cake is wonderful! It just creates this beautiful sensation in your mouth, a bliss like when you balance something just right, or when you make the perfect shot needed to take down a Grimm!"

"Why, thank you." The two girls turned around to see a pink-haired maid with a silver plate in her hands. Several dishes balanced on the plate. Her hand wobbled and weaved through the air, causing the two girls to flinch. The maid smiled. "Tiramisu was my lord's favorite dessert. Say what you will about my coordination, but I do pride myself on being able to make the best tiramisu." The tray slipped out of her hands. "Whoops!"

Before anything could happen, Blake threw her hand under the tray. Her Stand appeared a moment later, pressing its hand under the tray and preventing any of the dishes from falling onto the ground. "Oh, thank you," she muttered. "It would be really embarrassing if that happened again. Oh, clumsy me." The pink-haired woman set the tray on their table. "Let me introduce myself. My name's Felicia Icee." She bowed.

"Felicia?" I asked. "You mean like one of the owners of the restaurant?"

The woman nodded. "That's right."

"Wait… don't you already have a lot of people who can serve other people?" Blake let out a hum. "Why do you need to serve the people yourself? Plus, there's the issue of… stuff breaking."

"Well, it's partly boredom, partly nostalgia." The co-owner braced her chin against her hand. "My older sister Flora does all of the business stuff, while I coordinate with all of the other employees. Once that's done with, I don't really have anything to do, so why not? Plus, I do miss serving others, even if I'm clumsy. I wonder what my lord is doing right now ever since he gave up his title. Last I heard, he decided to make a pilgrimage to a canyon in hopes of finding the remains of a secret kingdom. May the gods be with him." She waved her hands at the two girls. "But enough of that! I have customers to serve! May I get your names, though?"

The faunus girl sat up. "I'm Blake, and this is Weiss."

She gave both of us a quick bow. "Have a great day Blake, Weiss." With that she picked up the tray and continued on her way.

"Wow, that's pretty cool," Blake said after a small pause. "I didn't think that we were going to meet one of the owners. Felicia seems really humble about her business."

"I think being a maid to an actual lord did a lot to do with that."

Blake nodded her head. "That's true. Wait… oh no!" She slapped her cheeks.

"What?"

"I forgot to ask her what the recipe is for this fish soup!" The girl tugged at her bow in frustration. "For some reason, this kind of fish is familiar, but I can't put my finger on what it can be! It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember what it is!"

"I'm pretty sure you're overthinking it or something." I shoved another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. "More often than not, the fish is usually something like halibut or cod. The kinds of fish with firmer meat work well in a soup."

"It doesn't taste anything like halibut or cod! Both halibut and cod have a firm texture with a mild sweet taste! This one has a firm yet moist texture!" She held her hand out and rubbed her fingers together, empathizing the movement. "There's even a hint of natural fish oil in it! I know I had this somewhere, but I can't remember what it was!"

I had to stifle a laugh. It's so strange watching the cat faunus in front of me freak out over not knowing what kind of fish she put into her mouth. In a sense she does act like her animal trait. My lips pressed together in a fine line while Blake flipped through the menu, searching for any clue of what the mystery fish could be. I guess everybody has their quirks at the end of the day. There's not a lot we can do about it.

My hand reached for the scroll within my pockets. I pulled up the messaging app and looked through the correspondence Blake and I had with Ruby.  _How many people do we know with Stands?_ I've written a day ago.

 _Me, Jaune, Nolan, Torchwick, Neo, and you two._  She responded back that same day. I shivered as I read Torchwick's name. I'm not sure of who Neo was, but the fact that she was the one to trap Jaune and Ruby on Sunday alongside Torchwick is alarming. We're lucky so far that all of the Stand users that we know of are either Hunters-in-Training or just petty thieves. This could've gone wrong very quickly if we were facing people who are more willing to kill others.

Jaune entered the conversation then, interjecting with his own comments.  _Edit: Fox from CFVY = user. Also learned Stand users will find other Stand users. Keep guard up, we're all targets._ Although they only learned it yesterday, it made a lot more sense why Ruby and Jaune were anxious to keep everybody out of this business. No matter what they do at this point, somebody with a Stand ability is going to run into them and cause a lot of trouble. And now that includes us.

I looked up as the cafe door opened, revealing four girls in various attire. They all seemed to wear either tight clothing or flowy gothic-style dresses, similar to my preferred attire. Their clothes stood out in the crowd, their outfits being a light violet, turquoise, green, and dark purple respectively.

"So, Octavia." The girl in the light violet suit gave the girl in turquoise a small smirk. "What's the reaction to your little confession?"

The redheaded girl blushed. "Can you guys not talk about this right now? It's embarrassing!"

"Hush, girl." This time the girl in purple smiled. She had attire that reminded me of a ballerina. "There's always time to hear a bit of gossip about our shy gal! Besides, it's not everyday I get to hear news about my partner!" The four sat down at a table close to the cashier. "Come on, lay in on us. How did they react?"

"Well, um…" Octavia tapped her index fingers together. "... I didn't."

The girl in green gasped. "What?"

"I can't! It's so embarrassing! Confessing to another person in such a way— I just can't!"

The girl in purple groaned. "Well, that sucks that you chickened out." She gave her partner a wicked smile. "It's a good thing I took the initiative this time around."

The redhead's eyes widened. "No! You didn't!"

The ballerina laced her hands together. "I did. They should've seen it by now. Your mystery person knows."

"What the— Gwen! You went through my stuff and— Why did you do that?!" She let out a groan as she slammed her head into the table. "My life is ruined. You've just embarrassed me in front of my crush. No, if you let this spread, it's going to be known all throughout Beacon! I can't show my face there ever again or Shade!"

The girl's face twisted from smugness to genuine concern. "What? Oh, come on Octavia. Don't be so dramatic." She got up and pulled the turquoise colored girl into a hug. "It's not going to end that badly. You know what? I have the perfect thing to cheer you up." She lifted a hand up to Octavia's ear and whispered something, occasionally glancing up at the cafe.

With a shrug I glanced back at my scroll and continued reading. Ruby responded with another text in the RWBY group chat:  _Done w/ printing new parts. Yang & I going rite now. Address 2 cafe?_ I started typing in the location of F&F. Now that I look at it, we're a lot farther from the weapons store than I initially thought. It's going to take them awhile to get over here.

I didn't even hit the send button when I heard the sounds of shattering porcelain. Everybody turned their heads towards the clumsy owner, who was picking herself from the ground close to the kitchen. A sigh escaped her mouth as she brushed off the broken shards on her. "Great, there's a slippery spot there," she muttered. Felicia glanced at the kitchen door. "Flora! I'm going to need a mop and a broom! Slipped on some kind of spill!"

"Another accident?" a voice yelled out. A sigh escaped from the door. "I'll get them. Just give me a moment. Make sure nobody steps on the shards, okay?" With that the pink-haired girl bent down to pick up the fallen tray, letting out a resigned sigh. Almost immediately her disappointed face turned to confusion.

The two of us got out of our seats and headed towards her. I tilted my head. "Hey Felicia, what's wrong?"

"That's strange. There was a slippery spot right here just a moment ago. Now the ground's sticky, and I can't pull the tray… back… up—!" With the last tug she yanked the metallic plating off of the floor successfully. Unfortunately, she yanked at the tray too hard. I cringed as it smashed into her face with a clang, sending her sliding down onto the ground— Huh? Did she just slipped on the sticky part of the floor?

"Are you okay?" the two of us asked at once as we helped her up.

"Ye— Yeah." She nodded her head. "I know I have a clumsy streak but I've never had it as bad as thiiiissss—!" The second we let go, she started sliding over the tiled floor, nearly falling back down to the ground. A panicked cry escaped our mouths as we caught her. "Whew… something's not right. Something strange is going on." Felicia placed her hand against the fabric of another table. "I don't know what's going on, but somebody did something to the floor. There's no way something can go from slippery to sticky to slippery agaiiiiiin!"

The moment she pushed herself up, the tablecloth somehow stuck to her hand and was dragged along with her. Yet another scream escaped her mouth as she fell to the ground again, sending several plates into the air. We all ducked and shielded ourselves from the fragments of porcelain flying through the cafe. Several customers started to back away from all of the chaos, whispering to each other about the series of events in front of them. The pink-haired girl's face turned red with embarrassment.

A laugh escaped from the crowd. I turned around to see the girl in dark purple who came in earlier bent over, letting out a long bellow at the fallen maid. The rest of her teammates chuckled along with her, although with a lot less enthusiasm. The redhead in particular looked uncomfortable with the scene. "Oh!" she gasped, pressing one of her hands into her stomach. The dark-haired girl started wheezing. "Did you see what happened to her? And all of the plates that flew through the air? Guys, that was awesome! I can't believe that would work out so well!"

One of my veins started pulsing in my head as I squeezed my fist. Did this girl really do something this petty? Using her Semblance or something like that just to mess with one of the owners of the cafe? Blake let out a cough the moment she saw me slam one of my hands onto a nearby table. "Weiss, we should leave this to the owners. They can just throw these guys out—"

"Alright, Felicia. I got the mop and broom." The door to the kitchen opened, revealing another maid with light blue hair. "Try to be more—" Flora dropped the cleaning equipment upon seeing the sight in front of her. "What is going on? Why is everything such a mess?" The sister on the floor said nothing, looking away from her co-owner. "Felicia, stand up. Have some more pride in yourself. A couple of broken dishes is but a drop compared to what you have done." The girl in goth clothing kept laughing.

"And you." The elder sister glared at the laughing girl, forcing her to drop silence. "What is so funny about this? From the looks of it, you've been harassing one of the employees of the cafe, and one of the co-owners, no less. Do you understand what that means?" At that the four girls paled.

"What a minute," the dark-haired girl started. "You can't prove it was us that did it. We're paying customers, just like everyone else—"

Blake interrupted from there. "I think her last words were 'Guys, that was awesome! I can't believe that would work out so well!'" She gave me a sly wink. "Something tells me that you're not entirely innocent of this joke." Flora nodded her head at the testament before looking back at the four girls.

"Have any words to refute that?"

The girl in the frilly dress paled, giving Blake an evil eye. Her hands flew up. "Now, now. This is just a prank. It was a small joke. At the end of the day, nobody got hurt, we all had our laughs, there's a great story to tell back at home! There's no need to be so uptight about all of this."

"Whatever you did, you indirectly caused a decent amount of porcelain to be broken. Even if it is 'just a prank' as you say it is, I cannot and will not forgive the destruction of property and the humiliation of my sister." She lifted a finger towards the door. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like all four of you girls to leave. All of you are being detrimental to the cafe environment."

Three of the girls shrugged and started to make their way out. The girl in purple, however crossed her arms. "And what if we say no? I'll pay for the broken dishes, that's fine with me. Think of it as an apology—"

"And what if you decide to try something else? What if you decide to do something bigger that could endanger my clients and my employees? No, you must leave, Ms—"

"Darcy." She gave the owner a small curtsy. "Gwen Darcy."

"—Ms. Gwen. If you don't…" She lifted one end of her sleeve. I held in a gasp as I saw the sheer amount of throwing knives she hid within. "My sister and I can personally show you what one of our tasks as the maids of the Nohr family."

At that Gwen scoffed, crossing her arms. "Really? You think a bunch of knives can scare me? Although I have to admit, I like your style. I too favor throwing knives. I guess that makes you a personal bodyguard, or an assassin." Flora didn't flinch, instead mimicking the girl's action.

"Gwen, come on," the red-headed girl noted. "It's clear that the joke isn't funny to any of these guys, and it stopped being funny for me. Let's just leave before we cause any more trouble—"

"Octavia, do me a favor and stay quiet for a moment." Gwen gave the sister maids a smug grin. "I'm going to take them down a peg."

The blue-haired maid sighed. "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this." She turned to the rest of the cafe. "Everyone, the cafe is closed until further notice! Get out while you still can!" With that everyone made their way out, leaving Flora, Felicia, Gwen, Blake, and I standing in the room. The rest of Gwen's team stayed right outside the door frame, watching us carefully. "Now that that's taken care of, let's deal with this problem." The elder sister pulled out a short throwing knife with an ice Dust tip. "I'm giving you one last warning. Get out now."

"Make me," the girl scoffed.

"Fine." Before I could even blink, the blade zipped towards Gwen, piercing through the air at lightning fast speeds. The girl in the frilly dress smirked, yanking out a blade of her own and flicking it at the flying object. The thrown objects collided with a clang, bouncing off each other and flying off into nowhere. Flora narrowed her eyes at the sight, but otherwise kept her neutral face.

"Intercepting a flying knife," the owner muttered. "Takes a lot of practice to do that. Even then, most people would just block or dodge it. The only people who know how to do that consistently are performers."

Gwen smiled. "You're not far off. The Darcy family pride ourselves with our skill in the performing arts. I suppose that means I can stay, right?" Flora slowly made a reach for her knives. "I guess that means no."

Blake and I gasped in surprise as a feminine figure appeared out of nowhere. Several long feathers sprouted from the figure's body, primarily covering her back. Despite looking fragile, the feathers remained firm, not swinging around as she zipped towards the maid. The bright blues and greens of the feathers reminded me of a peacock. The rest of the figure's appearance felt… gaudy, to say the least. A turquoise fitted top and a flowy beaded skirt were the only things covering up the figure. Her pale-purple skin shone under the building lights. A sultry smile remained fixed on her full, blue lips.

"Weiss…" Blake hissed at me as the figure brushed her fingers against Flora's knives before disappearing. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

I nodded. "Stand user." My mind raced. Whatever just happened in the store wasn't Gwen's Semblance; she was using a Stand! This is bad… We have to do something!

Before I could even move to open my mouth, Flora's hands flew into her sleeves, drawing out four knives in each hand. With a flick of her wrists, she made to throw them… except they failed to leave her hands. The blue-haired owner narrowed her eyebrows. "What?" She tried widening her fingers apart to release the knives, to little effect. "Why are my knives stuck to me?"

"What's wrong?" Gwen laughed as she pulled out a throwing knife of her own. She balanced it on one finger as she watched the girl in front of her struggle. "Having a case of the sticky fingers? I don't know what to say, but you need a person to pull that stick out of your butt. Hey, that's what entertainers do." Her Stand appeared behind her as she struck a pose. I shivered as I saw how far she bent her back up while leaning forwards. I'm sure that's not how the body works. A grin appeared on Gwen's face as she held the knife.

"So let me entertain you with the help of  **「** _ **LADY MARMALADE.**_ **」** "

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = September 15, 2017**

* * *

**Nolan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 4**

I looked around the hallway. Nobody in sight. It's to be expected; after all, we've been released from class roughly an hour ago. Everybody should be away from this place and getting lunch. I know that's what my team's doing. If this goes well, this should be the perfect opportunity to sneak into the History professor's office and snatch some papers!

Two small wires appeared from the pocket inside my jacket: a tension wrench and a rake. Originally made from paper clips, they served me well back before Shade, helping me get sweets from the locked box of candy. A petty usage for lockpicks, but helpful nevertheless.

They sat unused during my time as a Huntsmen. After all, why would I need to break into something there? It's not like they withhold a lot of things from Huntsmen anyways. But it's nice to get back into the groove.

With that, I inserted the tools into the keyhole and started fumbling around. When I first learned how to do this, the guy who taught me compared lockpicking to pleasuring a woman. Keep applying pressure, but not too much, or it will refuse to open up. Reach deep into the hole and apply fast yet smooth movements. Take your time and make sure you hit all of the important places. With enough coaxing, you can get that satisfying climax.

… Now that I think about it, the guy's kinda messed up teaching a kid lockpicking with that kind of analogy. I felt the wrench twist as the lock made a loud click. A smile crawled across my face. But hey, as long as it works, who am I to judge? I pulled the door open, revealing the darkened classroom. How much time do I expect to have? I glanced at the clock. Looks like I'm leaning towards the tail end of the lunch period. I should finish this quickly.

I locked the door behind me before rushing towards the other end of the room, where another door stood between me and the answers I seek. Alright, one more to go. All I have to do is stick the rake into— There's no keyhole. I looked at the door again. Wait a minute, that can't be right. Is it possible that the professor doesn't—

The doorknob gave way easily the moment I turned it, allowing me full access to his room. Inside was just as messy as the classroom. Paper laid around haphazardly, and there's almost no sense of order in how everything is organized. It's like somebody drove a car into it. I felt a smile crawl across my face. I'm so close now. All I have to do is to go through the file cabinets, match the handwriting, then walk out like a free man!

But wait a minute. Something's off. Why would a professor not have a lock on his office door? It would make a lot of sense to have one, especially considering that he teaches at a school full of Huntsmen who would do anything to pass. There has to be a catch. There's gotta be some kind of security measure that would at least warn him that somebody broke in.

I leaned my head into the room. No cameras. I dropped down to the floor. If there are any tripwires, I don't see them. Huh. It makes no sense… what could he possibly do to secure the room? I stepped into the room. There's nothing but a mess in here. I snatched a piece of paper lying on the desk. He couldn't have some kind of photographic memory or anything… Wait a minute…

My eyes widened. Maybe he might not have a photographic memory, but he has something better than that. A photo. The whole room's a tripwire! Oh shoot, how was this placed before… I placed it back on the table and adjusted it as best as possible. While the mess could be due to the teacher's bad habits, there's a chance that he might have weaponized this fact. Most people don't think about the order of a mess; as a result, they just barge through. But if somebody took a picture before leaving and looked at it when they returned… they would know if someone entered!

Okay, now I gotta be really careful. I took more delicate steps this time, trying to avoid everything as best as possible. Before I touch anything, I have to memorize the order they were placed in. While I'm at that, I should make sure that there isn't any hard to reposition traps that could instantly blow my cover. Gods know how many times I've been yelled at by Branz because of that fact. I have to admit, this professor's a tricky one. Or maybe I'm being paranoid. But I'd like to stay at Shade and not get kicked out for academic dishonesty, thank you very much.

Before I knew it, I had a file cabinet open wide. Let's see… useless files, boring documents, confiscated items, the usual stuff. Where's the file for student work? I continued rummaging through the papers. Come on, it's gotta be here somewhere. Doesn't this guy organize anything? It's making it hard for him to know where he keeps everything, as well as others who might need to get it on his request— What's this? Essay Reports? I blinked before shrugging. Well, who knows? It could be handwritten.

Alright. Remember: between Archeological Sites and Unexplained Phenomena. With a single tug, the file came out. It's stupid that he would wedge essays between those two files. I shook my head. Not the time for it. Let's see what's inside, shall we? I flipped the cover open. Jackpot! The top one's written with pen! Skimming through the pile revealed that all of the papers were handwritten. I got it!

Now if there weren't hundreds to go through… I sighed as I checked the clock. Eight minutes until office hours start back up. This is going to be a pain in the rear.

**=TBC=**


	19. Lady Marmalade

My fingers combed through my ponytail as Blake and I watched the confrontation in front of us. Oh gods, there's a Stand user in front of us, and she's going to cause trouble for the owners. Blake and I have to do something to stop this right now! We can't let her get away no matter what. We can't let this person go free! I let out a hum. If I remember correctly, I texted Ruby our location. We don't need to win against Gwen here; we just need to hold out long enough for Ruby to help turn the tables. I balled my fists. Hopefully Blake can handle this girl without any problems.

A chuckle came from the enemy Stand user, bringing my attention back to the fight that's going to happen. "Oh, come on guys. Look. All I want to do is spread a little bit of fun and excitement to everyone." The performer waved her knife around. "Sometimes life gets a little drab, a little sad. We can't be serious all the time! So why not bring in a little happiness to the people I care for? Nothing wrong with that. Hell, I'll perform something for you as well." She pointed her knife at the confused girl. "Now your next words will be 'What did you do to me?' To you!"

"What did you do to me?" Flora's eyes widened as she let out a gasp. "What the— How did you do that? Are you a mind reader?"

"If you want to think of me as such, sure." Gwen shrugged as she let one of her hands drift towards her sheaths. "But before I can answer your question…" In the blink of an eye, a wall of knives whooshed through the air. A yelp escaped Flora's mouth as she dove to the side, scrunching up in the process as she slammed into a table. The blades missed, flying over the maid. "Ooh, good eye there. You have quick feet."  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** shot forwards, slapping the table Flora landed on before disappearing. "But now it's time to show you my real trick! Try lifting yourself from the table!"

Flora growled. "Don't test me, you—" Her scowl morphed into confusion. "What the— I can't get off!" She wiggled around, but she couldn't pull herself off. The maid twisted her head towards Gwen. "What did you do to me?" A squeak escaped my mouth. Wha— how? Just what is Gwen's Stand ability, to be able to do something like that?

The corner of Gwen's lips shot up. "Oh, a performer doesn't want to reveal her secrets. It takes out the 'oomph' of the actual act, making it look mundane. But, since you asked nicely, I'll do a little bit of a reveal." She started forwards. "Well, you see—"

Before the dancer could say anything else, the owner of F&F snapped her head to the side, ripping a piece of cloth off of her outfit. Moments later I let out a gasp as she twisted back, flinging a hidden knife right into Gwen's face. The turquoise and green Stand flickered into vision, flicking the shot away before disappearing. Without missing a beat the ballerina snapped towards her sheaths, a blur flying through the air in an instant and striking the stuck woman.

Flora gasped once the blade disintegrated. Ice crystals sprouted upon impact, encasing the maid. Only her head was left exposed to the air. She let out a shiver as the table tipped over and flopped onto the floor. The girl in purple let out a sigh. "Tricky. You'd be great in show business. Anyways, where was I? Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "That's right. I have a special ability that can make any surface sticky or slippery whenever I wish. So those knives stuck to your hand? All due to my powers. It's a… rather odd Semblance, so I rather call it a Mystique." She waved her hands in the air. "Eh? Sounds mysterious, doesn't it?"

As Gwen stood over the frozen Flora, a thought hit me. Where in the world are Felicia and Blake? I glanced around the area. What the— It's like they disappeared! Where did they go? Are they trying to plan something? I raised my hand to my chin. From the looks of it, they have to be planning some kind of ambush or something. But where could they be? They couldn't possibly get far, can they? Wait. I glanced at the cashier counter. A hand appeared from behind the front counter, adjusting a polished glass on one of the shelves before ducking back.

The ballerina's laugh caught my attention again. "So what do you think? Pretty impressive, don't you think?" She held her wrist up as if she was looking at the time. "I wished that this could've gone a lot longer, but I'm on a bit of a time crunch. You know how Huntress business is. Busy and all that. Don't worry about getting free. I think the ice Dust wear off within an hour or so. You might have to worry about hypothermia, but I think the weather should counteract that."

She stopped in place before narrowing her eyes. Her Stand appeared milliseconds later, punching away a knife flying her way. "Ooh, that was a close one," Gwen sighed as she readjusted her hair. "Almost got me there. So, behind the countertop, huh?" I heard Felicia let out a small meep, betraying her location. The girl in purple smiled, starting to walk towards the countertop. "Bingo."A hand shot out, ready to throw a handful of knives. Before Felicia could throw it, however, **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** zoomed towards the younger sister, slamming her face against the glass. "I made your face all sticky, so you won't be going anywhere."

"Phrasing," one of her teammates yelled out.

I squeezed my hands together. Why am I still standing here? Shouldn't I be going out and doing something about this? It doesn't feel right, standing here and watching this girl have their way with them and their store! Maybe I don't have a Stand, but I can grab something and distract her! But my body just won't move. Before Felicia could let out a sound, another knife smacked into her, encasing the other owner in ice as well. "I'm glad that you two managed to take a chill pill," the girl crowed. I let out a growl. That's it! I had enough of this girl! My hands wrapped around a plate. I'm going to put her in her place!

Gwen sent a glance my way as I took a step forwards. "Who in the world are you, and why are you still inside the—" Her eyes widened. "You're— Schnee!" Her serious stance disappeared as she fawned over me. "Oh wow, I've never thought I would meet up with a member of the Schnee family in real life! From the looks of it, you must be the Weiss Schnee! Oh my gods, this is like a dream come true! You are Weiss Schnee, right?"

My eyes widened in surprise as she took my hand, forcing me to drop the plate. I jumped as it shattered, the small fragments nicking my ankles. "Uhh, yes?"

The girl in purple had a shimmer in her eyes as she jerked my hand around. "Name's Gwen. I'm a big fan of yours! Loved your singing ever since they streamed your first concert in the Shade Operahouse! I don't know if this is awkward, but I love your soprano voice! I used to dance to your songs all the time! Still do! You're like a hero to me!" Her cheeks turned red as she looked away in embarrassment. "Oh gods, I don't know what to say! What are you doing here?"

I slipped my hand out of her grasp. "Thank you. It's… flattering to hear all that. As for the other question, I'm studying at Beacon. I live here."

Gwen shook her head. "No no, I meant what are you doing here, like in this cafe."

My lips pursed together. "I like eating here. It's new, they have great food that even my friends could afford, and the employees are nice." I let out a sigh. "And now it's ruined, all because of this bad excuse of a joke."

She paled at those words. "Oh, really? I didn't know that! I'm really, really sorry!" Her hands patted against her uniform, searching for something. "Look, I'm willing to pay for anything that broke! Yeah, this might've gone a bit too far, but this won't affect them in the slightest! The owners won't be losing anything at the end of the—"

"That's not the point, Gwen." At once the words stopped. From the corner of my eye I noticed a 2D picture of Blake crawling across the tiled floor, creeping up on the girl. "What about the fact that you made these two look unprofessional? Maybe you can give them back their dishes, but you can't give them back their reputation. They're a small store, and they need every good bit of publicity as possible. That's something you took away from them. Something that money can't fix here."

Her mouth opened and closed before she grabbed tufts of her own hair and let out a gasp. "I didn't think of it that way! That wasn't my intention, I swear—"

Blake jumped in as she saw the opportunity. She shot herself out of the ground and her **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** let out a hiss before throwing a punch towards the girl's head. **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** in an instant struck back, knocking the faunus girl to the side. Gwen let out a tsking sound, still not turning around. "Hey, do you mind? I was having a talk with one of my heroes, and you decided to try and smash my head in. On one hand, that's really rude, and you're next on the list of 'people I need to handle.'"

She turned around to look at my teammate. Gwen pursed her lips as she nodded in approval of… something. "On the other hand, you have the same abilities that I do. So let's introduce ourselves properly. Like proper duelers." The feathered Stand floated in front of her as she gave Blake a bow. "My name is Gwen Darcy, and this is my Mystique,  **「** **LADY MARMALADE.** **」** "

Blake brought herself lower. "Alright. Meet  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS.** **」** And just to let you know, these are not called Mystiques. They're called Stands."

"Really?" Gwen raised one of her eyebrows. "Well, I guess 'Stand' does has a nice ring to it. I still like Mystique better. After all, it's a mystery to all but people like us, right?" She held her hands out in front of her. "Maybe we might have something exciting happen after all. I've never had to fight against someone who can see **「** **LADY MARMALADE.** **」** I'll give you the first move. I want to see what you can do."

"And you don't think I didn't notice that you used your Stand to sticky the ground in front of you?" Blake crossed her arms as her Stand snatched a couple of plates. The smirk on Gwen's face disappeared. "I guess I'm right, based on your reaction." The faunus girl turned to me. "Weiss, make sure that Ruby gets over here in time."

"Wait." Gwen's eyes widened. "Are you saying that you two—"

Her words were interrupted by a series of flying plates flying her way. The ballerina jumped onto a table, allowing the porcelain to whiz past her smash into the side of the wall. Gwen barely managed to get back up when Blake herself leaped onto another table. I could feel the sparks flying from their eyes as they stared each other down.

"Well, okay. If that's how you want to play it..." The ballerina brushed herself off, hooking one of her fingers through her knife while doing so. I thought for a moment I saw the turquoise Stand flicker in the air before disappearing. Before I knew it, another knife flew at Blake. Amber eyes widened as she threw herself onto the table, sending tableware tumbling to the ground. The knife itself smashed a glass lantern and ice crystals crackled along the walls. Ooh… That's not good.

"Wait, what?" I turned back to my teammate. The cat faunus' face had morphed into horror as she tried to push herself back up. Despite her best efforts, the white fabric stuck to her body, pinning her. The tablecloth! That's what Gwen's Stand was doing a little while ago! The purple clad girl gave off a smirk as  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** snatched a corner of the fabric.

"And off you go!" Blake let out a cry as she slid over the fabric, landing on the varnished sandalwood back first. And just like that, the cat faunus was stuck on tight again as Gwen's Stand tapped the exposed surface of the table. She bit her lip in a panic as she squirmed, shaking the table in her attempt to escape. The faunus girl's Stand appeared for a moment as she sunk into the ground. However, she still couldn't move from her spot, no matter what she tried to do. Oh no, this can't be happening— Right! I need to get Ruby now! We need help now!

I threw myself under a table, taking me out of the fight. In an instant, I'm typing up a message to Ruby.  _Hurry up. Need help. Fending off User right now._ I only hope she'll come before this girl gets away. My head popped out from my hiding the second the message was sent. Gwen whistled as she walked over to Blake, running one of her fingers along the point. Amber eyes widened at the sight of her opponent gripping the knife and winding back for a blow.

In an instant,  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** reappeared, snatching a nearby chair and swinging it against the bottom of the table. I let out a gasp as the one of the table legs gave, sending the entire thing collapsing to the floor. The tablecloth fell over Blake, obscuring her from my view. Moments later, an ice crystal bloomed as it hit the now exposed bottom. Gwen tsked. "Missed that time. Oh well." She shrugged as she leaped off of her perch. "It's not like you can go anywhere anyways. It's not going to be hard to put you out of action."

A bit of saliva went down my throat as I swallowed. My eyes stayed glued to Gwen as she approached the table as she lifted up another dagger. "In fact, I'm going to get you right around now!" She stepped around the table, only to let out a gasp of confusion. "What? Where did she go?" The purple clad girl lowered her weapon, stepping where Blake was moments ago and turning towards me. I furrowed my eyebrows. Is it possible for Blake to escape the ability of  **「** **LADY MARMALADE?** **」** How? A familiar pale hand gripping a porcelain plate slowly raised up behind her.

It came falling down, shattering the dish onto the ballerina's head. Her eyes squeezed shut as she stumbled to the side, revealing Blake breathing heavily. She tossed the broken dish to the side.

"Blake!" I gasped. "What in the— how did you get out? I thought it was impossible to escape the—"

"Semblance." Her Stand reappeared in front of her. "Turns out I can unstick myself by replacing myself with a shadow clone. I then merged with an unaffected part of the floor and snuck behind her that way."

"Ow," the girl responded, rubbing the place where Blake hit her. "Geez, that hit hard. You do know I could've gotten a concussion from that?" She lifted her hand and inspected it. "Argh, I think I might be bleeding a bit." She pulled back her Stand, taking care to take a couple of steps back. Violet light surrounded her, most likely her Aura knitting up her wounds. "Man, this is starting to get out of hand. If you don't mind, I'm going to be leaving—"

"Oh no you don't!" I held up my scroll, stopping the girl in her tracks. "You're going to have to make all of this up to the owners. We're going to get an official report by the Valean police, and for that to happen, you're going to stay right here. And gods forbid you if any of your teammates do anything! They're just as involved as you are!"

She rolled her eyes. "For the love of— the prank was all me! Okay? They had nothing to do with— all this." Gwen gestured to the messy state of the cafe. "I came up with it on the spot to cheer up a fellow teammate. Bad joke, I know, but you seriously want to get all of us into trouble for something I did on my own?"

"It depends." Blake crossed her arms. "Are you the team leader?"

"No. Why bother asking?"

I stepped forwards. "You do know that anything you do reflects on your team leader, and by extension, your team?"

"..." Her eyebrows furrowed before widening as she realized the implications. "Oh hell no! This is— What? No no no, I am not going to get NDGO arrested for a prank! No way! Seriously, I don't mind being detained for what I've done, but the rest of the girls? No! They didn't do anything! None of them deserve this kind of fate!"  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** reappeared, punching several dishes from nearby tables. Despite how ferocious the girl looked, not a single plate cracked. "I can't let that happen, no matter how bad my actions are!"

A sigh escaped my lips. "I'm sorry that we have to do this. Really, I do."

"Well, not if I have anything to say about it!" With a roar,  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** snatched a plate and threw it at Blake like a frisbee. Within an instant, Blake's Stand brought her hands up as she floated in front of her user, ready to smash the dish out of the air. Right as the cat Stand raised its hand, to our surprise the plate separated into multiple little fragments. Each piece fell through  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** and flew straight towards my teammate, each making shallow cuts on her skin. Despite the less than impressive damage, it did cause Blake to flinch and cover her eyes.

Another roar escaped the ballerina's Stand as it begun launching a torrent of dishes, all fracturing midair into crude yet sharp shards. I let out a scream as I flipped over a table, hiding behind it as the shrapnel reached me. My breaths became more erratic as I pressed my back against the table as tightly as possible. "Guys!" I heard Gwen yell at her teammates. "Get out of here! I'll catch up!"

"Gwen, you know we're not going to leave you," a girl in purple hair started. "Look, we've been staying out of your way to avoid your Mystique. But it's clear doing it your way isn't going to work. Everybody thinks this is a waste of time for something so stupid. Seriously, we can still talk through this in a calm and rational manner—"

"They're going to kick us out of the Vytal Festival and ship us back to Haven, back to Professor Sierra!"

"Aaand we're going!" The person I assumed to be the leader of the group snatched the wrists of her fellow teammates. "Come on Octavia, Dew! Let's split before the popo get us!" With those words they dashed away from the store. I grinded my teeth. Should I let them go and focus on Gwen? Or should I go after them, leaving Blake to fend off  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** by herself?

… Let them go. I'm sure we can find them later. I don't think any of them are Stand users anyways. What's important is that we stop the Stand user in front of us. But how are we going to do that? Only Blake has a chance to stop Gwen! I can't even bring out my Stand yet! How am I going to win against—

No wait… I bit my lip in frustration. Didn't Ruby say something about how Stand users aren't protected by Aura? My eyes flew to a shard of porcelain that landed near me to my left. It was surprisingly big, being around the span of my hand. It sounded like Gwen stopped throwing all of the dishes. If I can grab that shard and sneak up behind her… All it takes is one hit to the back to—

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard two solid things smack together, followed by Blake letting out a grunt. What in the—? One peek from the right side of the table revealed the cat faunus sliding backwards. Her hands waved through the air, trying to grasp at something, but everything she touched slipped out of her hands. Before we knew it, she crashed into a nearby table back-first, knocking her forwards onto the ground. I raised my eyebrows. What did Gwen do? My eyes narrowed. And what is that skidding sound?

I glanced right above the table that served as my cover. Gwen had her arms crossed, with one of her hands filled to the brim with knives. A wide grin grew on her face as the table she stood on slid towards me at near breakneck speeds. I let out a large gasp, stepping back as she gave me a small wave. "Special delivery, Weiss! This is the Darcy Express, bringing you a special order of butt whooping and a bit of time on ice!"

"Oh for—" My body threw itself out of the way right before the two tables collided, sending splinters of wood all over the place. All I did was cover my head and face as I rolled away from the impact site. Well, there goes that plan. This would've been so much easier if I decided to bring Myrtenaster. At least I could fight against Gwen with that. But there's nothing I can do about it now. I'll just get up, hide again, and form another plan. Alright, that will work—

All of a sudden I felt myself stop rolling. I let out a choking noise as my clothing arrested my momentum. What?! What happened? My hands flew away from my face to see the ballerina Huntress walking towards me. Fear started blossoming in my chest as the realization hit me. She figured out that she wasn't going to win against Blake, knowing that my teammate knows how to escape from her grasp. No, now she's going after me, the person who can't get out! I started squirming, testing my bond to the ground. It's no good. I'm good as stuck. It took all of my willpower not to slam my head down in defeat. The last thing I need is to have my head stuck as well.

**「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** popped her chest outwards as Gwen approached me. "I'm sorry for doing this, Weiss." She raised the hand with all of the knives. "I still admire you and all that, but you know how it is. I have to take care of my teammates. No hard feelings?" I didn't say a word. "I'll go with yes for that one."

The sounds of clothing rustling caught my attention. I looked over to my left to see Blake still trying to use her Semblance to bring herself back up. She finally managed to grab one of the tables still up, but the slick floor below her was preventing her from getting back up. I don't think she's going to make it in time to help me out. I let out a sigh, before trying one last tug. I'm not going to sit here and let her encase me in ice! No! I have too much pride for that! I'm going to get knocked out struggling!

Gwen flung the knives down at me at the sight of me trying to pull myself out. I ignored my impending doom as I tried to pull myself out of my prison. Come on! My clothes held me down as I pulled again. Come on! Still nothing happened with my next tug. The blades were coming dangerously close to me. Come on, I'm not going to freeze here!

I pulled at my restraints one final time. This time there was a weird sensation. Not with my body, but inside my chest. The best way I can describe the feeling is like how emotions pull at the heartstrings if that even makes sense. It felt weird, yet it felt right. Is this the feeling Ruby described to me? The one needed to summon a—

A split second later, a humanoid figure appeared out from nowhere, punching away the knives coming at me. Gwen's eyes widened at the sight. She took a couple steps back, bringing the turquoise Stand in front of her. "What? How in the— You're a Mystique user as well?"

"It's Stand user," Blake called out from her position, but I ignored the girl. My mouth dropped open as the figure floated in front of me. The first thing I noticed is the rugged outfit the Stand was wearing. It wore a baggy, frontier-esque uniform, obscuring the fact of whether or not this figure is male or female. It didn't help that the scarf-like apparel obscured its face. Only haunting, shiny blue eyes can be seen on its face. However, the outfit looked well maintained, almost as if custom tailored for a king. A large crystalline saber hung from the left side of the figure's waist. The figure tipped their wide brimmed hat at me before crossing their arms.

"So this is my Stand?" I asked as I stared at the figure. "After all of this time… it finally appears when I need it the most." I swallowed a bit of my saliva. "I feel like I have the perfect name for it…  **「** **I.D.I. TIME.** **」** 'Like a wound up clock, it rings when it's needed.'" Something felt appropriate about giving the Stand that name. It fit the Stand in front of me like a glove. My hopes started to soar. Maybe with this Stand, I can finally unstick myself from the floor! But wait a minute… I don't know what the ability of **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** is. I'm not moving anywhere if I can't even figure out how to use the Stand!

My Stand let out a whistling sound, similar to how wind moves through a cave before yanking the saber out from its sheath. The blade itself was finely crafted, a beautiful combination of both traditional Dust infused steel and silver overlays. What interested me was the fact that the edge of the blade was pure Dust, as in it was made out of an actual Dust crystal that was sharpened. I gawked at the sight. The biggest Dust crystal out there is maybe half a meter long. I'm staring at a meter long Dust blade being held in the hands of **「** **I.D.I. TIME!** **」**

With that the spirit turned towards me and raised its sword up. Wait, that's not right! "What?" I yelled. "What are you doing?! You're not supposed to attack me! Go after her!" I made an attempt to point at Gwen, only to find out that my arms are still stuck to the floor. Oh, that's just wonderful! I get to be killed by my own Stand! Blake let out a cry as the blade started falling towards me. I slammed my eyes shut, hoping for a quick and merciful—

I lost my train of thought as I felt myself be elevated from the ground. Okay, now I'm really confused. What is going on? I opened my eyes. My Stand's saber was slammed onto the ground. Dust crystals the size of my head sprouted from the place where it sliced the ground. From the looks of it, it was the orange variant. It's stabilization Dust: the kind used in Dust infused steel and mechanical parts for mechashift platforms. I lifted my arm to rub my forehead. I don't understand a thing that's going—

Wait. Did I just—? I lifted my hand away from my face. I'm unstuck! Wha— How—? I pulled myself up. The patch of Dust I sat on took on the rough shape of my silhouette. So many questions bounced around in my head as I stared at the humanoid patch. How could a patch of Dust take on that form? How did it cancel out the effects of  **「** **LADY MARMALADE?** **」** Why is it stabilization Dust I'm sitting on right now?

A low whistling sound escaped from my rugged Stand again as it slid its blade back into its sheath. My eyes widened. Is this the effect of my Stand? The power of  **「** **I.D.I. TIME,** **」** my power, is the ability to create Dust crystals anywhere I want? And all of that comes from that saber resting on my Stand's side? … I rubbed my head in confusion. I'm not sure how this is supposed to work.

I glanced up to see the ballerina still standing, keeping a wary gaze at the two of us. But I can figure that out later. It just works, that's the explanation I'm going with until the fight's over. It's not going to matter if we get trapped here. With that I pushed myself up to a standing position. Now that the fight is me and Blake vs. Gwen, we can turn the tables around and stop everything— why can't I move my legs? I tried lifting one of my feet up, only to have it remain rooted in place.

Did my Stand miss my feet? The frontier Stand drew its blade and made a slice right in front of my toes. Purple gravity Dust appeared this time, growing all around my feet and calves. Not a single crystal formed under my feet. A sweatdrop started rolling down my forehead. Oh no… I'm still stuck! I'm not going anywhere! Why in the world can't I form Dust crystals under my feet?!

Gwen, who was staying back before, perked up the moment we realized that I'm still stuck to the ground. She let out a relieved laugh. "Oh my gods… I thought for a moment that I was a goner now that you managed to find your Mystique." She ignored the correction from Blake, who was trying to pull herself onto the table without slipping back down. "It would've been a nightmare for me if both of you two can ignore my ability. But your Mystique can't free you from  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** and her sticky ability!"

**「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** lunged towards the girl, sword in hand, only to slow down roughly five meters away from me. She continued: "And from the looks of it, your Mystique is only effective when it's close to you. I guess that means I still win. You can't move or get me, catgirl over there is still playing around in my slip and slide. I'd rather freeze everybody, but two out of four isn't that bad, right?"

"One-half is a terrible ratio," I muttered.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "As long as I make my escape." She turned over to the door, which has since been long abandoned by the former patrons and started towards it. "Don't worry, the abilities of **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** will fade away a couple of minutes after I get out of range." She gave us a wave. "I'll send a check in the mail to cover for the destruction."

I bit my lip. Come on, we can't let her get away! I mean, we can probably catch her back at Beacon and force her to confess, but what about the cafe? Their reputation would be ruined because of this! There's no way we can let Gwen get away!

But what can we do? Blake's in no position to go anywhere right now, and my boots are stuck to the floor! We both can't cut her off, not unless one of us escapes. But how are we going to do that? I rubbed my scar. Okay Weiss, calm down. Think through this carefully. There's got to be a loophole in Gwen's power. While I am stuck to the floor through my boots, maybe…!

Wait, is it possible that—? I wiggled my toes and shifted my feet a bit. Despite the near perfect fit, no doubt due to a tailor's careful eye, there is still a little give. A bit of hope bloomed from my chest. Hmm… that might actually work. My eyes flew over to Gwen, checking to see if she's looking before leaning down and starting to undo my shoes. With every lace undone, I felt the grip on my feet slacken until I found myself free. I stepped on the tops of the boots and gazed at the area around.

It's true that I might be free now. But this is still going to mean nothing if I can't figure out one thing: what did  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** already touch? I'm only in socks, so I still have another chance, but Gwen will catch on to my antics and try something. Sweat started streaming down my face as I looked at the tables still standing. It feels like standing in a minefield. One step in the wrong direction and it's over for me. Come on, there's got to be a way to move around without worrying about stepping in the wrong place.

A thought hit me. Wait a moment, wasn't I standing in the middle of a patch of gravity Dust? I looked down. The purple crystals are still there. I smiled as the pieces came together. My Stand floated back over to me, snagging a metal tray before handing it over. Whew! It wasn't sticky, thank goodness.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** pulled out the saber again, but held it so that the blunt end of the weapon was facing away from the Stand. This was going to hurt.

"Now!" My Stand swung its sword at the pile of Dust the second I leaped and tucked myself under the metal tray. A yelp escaped my mouth a second later as the Dust exploded, launching me towards the fleeing girl.

Gwen turned around in surprise. "What?!" The girl dived out of the way, allowing me to soar over her head. But that wasn't my goal. My Stand zipped over to the open doorframe before forming a crystal Dust barrier in front of it. Her face twisted from confusion to anger. I gave her a smirk. Now there's no way for you to escape, Gwen. You're stuck in here with us until our backup arrives.

Seconds later I smashed into a wall, knocking all of the air and smugness out of me. Another cry escaped my mouth as the porcelain shards from earlier cut me as I landed. Ooh… ow. I look a look at myself. Most of the cuts were superficial, similar to how a kid scrapes themselves while playing in a courtyard. However, I felt bigger spikes of pain radiating from my back. Some pieces probably entered me when I landed.

My breathing started becoming ragged as I pulled  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** back. Almost immediately, white Aura started surrounding my cuts. I winced the shrapnel stuck in my back started exiting my body. Ah! Geez, that did not feel good. Ruby didn't say anything about this hurting as my wounds are being healed!

The ballerina in the meantime walked over to me, **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** out and ready to fight me. Okay, I trapped the girl inside this store. Now I just have to get Blake back into the fight somehow. Together we can probably stop Gwen. But first I have to get past her Stand. For one thing, it's fast. Fast enough to touch something and activate its ability without us noticing. I wonder if my glyphs can outspeed her Stand?

Gwen let out a long sigh, shaking her head at me. "I can't believe this… why do you have to make this difficult?" She pulled out two knives and threw them at me. Both of them missed me by a hair, but I had to jump back to avoid the ice formations sprouting out. My mind raced while I kept backing away from her throws. She's missing a lot more tosses than usual. I know that she's more accurate than that; after all, her preferred weapons are thrown. There's no way that these misses are accidental. What is she planning?

My unspoken question would be answered quickly as I felt something solid press against my back. I felt my heart accelerate as I watched her pull out even more knives. She's backing me into a corner! Once that's done, there's no way she could miss with the knife! Gwen was leading me on from the start!

I swallowed as the ice froze all around me, cutting off my escape routes. There's no time left! I have to think of some way out! Otherwise, we're going to lose! Come on, what to do, what to do… My eyes flew towards the girl. Moments later  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** shot forwards, swinging their fists at the girl with wild abandon.  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** met my Stand, locking themselves in a full on brawl. Thousands of fists flew at the other person as Gwen and I faced off against each other. Come on! My eyes roamed around the room. I have to get out somehow!

All of a sudden I felt a sudden spike of pain in my stomach. I glanced back at the fight to see the fist of **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** embedded in my Stand's stomach. Saliva flew out of my mouth with a cough as I crumpled to the ground. Gwen's Stand threw another punch at my Stand's face. A shot of blood sprayed out of my nose in turn. Ugh… My Stand then drew its sword and swung at the turquoise spirit. My efforts were in vain when  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** beat the sword out of the hand of  **「** **I.D.I. TIME,** **」** sending the weapon careening away. A streak of white Dust sprouted on the floor and various other objects.

Before I could react and dive after the sword,  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** stomped on the rugged Stand, pinning both  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** and myself to the ground. I heard Blake cry out as she redoubled her efforts to escape her slippery prison. I spat out a glob of blood out from my mouth. How much can I move? I tried rolling out of the way, only to find myself stuck to the ground. No! This can't be happening!

Gwen stood over me, her face a mix of anger and regret as she pulled one of her last knives out. "Remove the barrier from the front door. I'm done fighting against you."

"Not until you go to the police and take responsibility for this," I spat out. My mind started spinning. Is this it? Should I just pull my Stand back and hope that hypothermia won't wreck my body too bad? I pored through every idea that bounced through my head. How can I get out of this, how can I get out—

She frowned. "I can't." The two of us were silent as we considered one another. "So I guess this is it, huh?"

My eyes lit up as I focused on the white Dust on the ground. Wait a moment… this must be Concussive Dust, if I remember correctly. When activated, it sends out a shockwave that knocks people back. Huntsmen would use the substance in flashbangs all the time due to their non-lethal properties. That just might be my way out of here. If only there was a way to activate the Dust though. The Dust sword is currently out of range, and I don't know how stable the crystals are. Maybe a Dust explosion can activate it. But the only source of powdered Dust is Gwen's knives!

Wait a minute… why don't I just take it?  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** immediately threw a chop at  **「** **LADY MARMALADE,** **」** pushing the turquoise Stand off of it. I felt the strange weight lift off of my chest as I was freed from her grasp. Gwen grunted as she fell to the ground, dropping the knife. I only have one shot at this. I can't let that knife use up its Dust reserves on the ground! My Stand swiped the weapon out of the air. It dived towards the Dust streak. There's no way to guarantee that she didn't sticky the weapon in her hands. But I don't think that matters.

The ballerina's eyes widened as I recalled my Stand, allowing the weapon to drop towards the Dust crystals. "No!" she screamed as she tried to dive towards the object. As for me, I crawled into a ball, covered my ears, and braced myself for impact. I shut my eyes a second before the tip of the knife touched the Concussive Dust.

Then a deafening sound blew out my ear drums, sending me flying into a wall.

* * *

"Ruby, what's the rush?" Yang asked as she tried to keep up with me. "What could possibly happen that would force you to rush—"

"Something's going on with Blake and Weiss." I kept walking forward. "They sent me a text for help, and we gotta get over there before the situation gets worse!"

"What?! Why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

"Well, every second we spend talking is a second where Blake and Weiss could get hurt! I was going to tell you while we're on our way to the cafe, but it slipped my mind! Now we gotta—"

An explosion cut my words short, forcing everyone around us to duck in panic. Our eyes widened. I widened my stance. "It's coming from the direction of the cafe! I'll run in first, and you can catch up!"

"No, Ruby!" Yang grabbed my wrist. "You can't— I mean, you're going to need backup! Somebody who's willing to set off an explosion isn't someone you should take on alone. In fact, look." She pointed at a motorcycle nearby us. "We can take that bike and get there together. It's going to be easier to fight off whoever's attacking Weiss and Blake if I can help you right away!"

I narrowed my eyes as lilac eyes pleaded with me. Should I get Yang into this Stand mess? If I bring her with me, she could potentially be used as a hostage to whatever ability the enemy Stand user has. Then again, don't Stand users take damage from everything? If I convince Yang to use bean bags, she could take down the user quickly. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

My head scratched my head. "I mean, that makes some sense. But you can hotwire a motorcycle? How?"

Yang gave me a big grin. "I never thought you would ask." She went over to the vehicle and pulled out what looked like a copper wire exposed at the ends. "I originally learned this method just in case I forgot the keys to Bumblebee, but I'm sure the same methods apply to this bike. Find the connection for all of the ignition wires, unplug them, stick this copper wire into the little ports…" She hummed to herself as she did this task, looking at the dashboard. "Okay, not those two ports, and voila! The lights are on!"

I stepped forwards and looked at the dashboard. Sure enough, all of the lights flashed on. My sister continued: "Now to find the ignition switch. There's no button on the handles. Maybe this is a kick ignition?" She glanced at the side. "Aha! There you are, you little rascal!" She set a little lever in place. "Now let's start this baby up!"

Before I could say anything, Yang stomped on the ignition, causing the bike to roar in fury. The headlights flickered on as the bike shook with the engine. Yang lifted her head with pride, brushing her hair back. "Ah, that's a beautiful sound." She slipped onto the dark motorcycle before slapping the seat behind her. "Come on, Ruby. Get on. We have no time to check for helmets, so we're going to be driving dirty. At least there's a backing so you won't fall off."

"Hey! What are you doing with my bike?!" We turned to see a small group step out of a nearby restaurant. Most of them were wearing leather jackets and tight cotton undershirts. I swallowed. I've heard of a series of Huntsmen that travel in some sort of a biker gang. I forgot the name, but it had to do with some afterlife deity or something like that. Did… did we just steal a bike from them?

"You heard me! Get off my bike!" One guy wearing a pale green mohawk stepped forwards. Now that I think about it… Doesn't the guy look a bit like Russel from CRDL? Yeah, he does! The guy is like Russel if he was taller and had facial hair! He pulled out a revolver and cocked it. "No more warnings. Get off by the time I count to three, or I'll fire. One…"

"Ruby, get on the bike!" She started revving the engine. No time to think about that! I gotta get to Weiss and Blake!

She sped away the moment I leaped into the back site, earning a groan out of the Russel lookalike. "Aw, come on!" We ducked as a series of bullets flew towards the bike, each missing us as Yang weaved through traffic.

"I'm sorry about the bike!" I yelled as we sped away. "We'll return it to you!" If he could hear my promise, he didn't look happy about it, reloading his weapon as the rest of his posse got on their bikes.

"Whew! That was close," Yang laughed as we continued onwards.

"No, not really." I turned back towards my sister. "They're coming after us."

"They are?" She shrugged. "Well, I guess we should hurry and save Weiss and Blake before they catch us." I nodded, swallowing as we made our way to the location of the cafe.

* * *

My eyes flickered open as I pulled myself out from the few bits of glass and porcelain on me. The ringing in my ears was already fading away. I combed through my ponytail. Did I do it? Did the Concussive Dust do its job? A bit of movement caught my attention. I glanced over to see Gwen dragging herself back up to her feet. She didn't look too great. Several shards of glass and porcelain had sunk deep into her. She was bleeding profusely everywhere. Well, it's a good thing that I called my Stand back. That could've been me if I stabbed the knife into the Dust vein. But she's not pulling  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** back. Is she going to be okay?

She coughed out a blood, spraying it over the floor as she stared at me. "Please… just let me go." Brown eyes stared into mine. "Please. I already know that I'm in the wrong. Just this once, let me go free." I swallowed as my Stand picked its sword back up. What should I do? On one hand, she has to fix what she's done to this whole entire store. She admitted it herself, she's the one who messed up.

But then again… we all did. I looked around. This place was completely trashed now from the explosion. There isn't a single thing still standing. Yeah, it might be Gwen's fault that Felicia was embarrassed, but Blake and I destroyed the place trying to bring her to justice. If Gwen has to stay to face the consequences of her actions… Blake and I have to as well.

"You're not leaving." I raised myself up to stand a little taller. "I'm not leaving, either. We're both going to stay here and face the consequences of our actions."

The ballerina shook her head. "That's not enough." Before I could blink,  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** zipped over and dragged her hand across the floor, ending by touching my feet. Almost immediately after that, Gwen threw herself onto one of the chairs, sliding away from me.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** tried to swing at the turquoise Stand, only for the sword swing to miss as  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** was dragged along with its user.

I growled. She's getting away! And I'm out of range as well! I tried running towards her before I realized that my socks were stuck to the ground. Of course she managed to stick my feet to the floor!

Gwen threw herself off of the chair the moment it stopped. Her Stand snatched the chair up and smashed it into the wall, forcing it to stick there. She leaped onto it a second later, making gasping noises as she pulled herself up. My heart nearly stopped. She's trying to get out through the clerestory window! I gawked at the girl as her Stand slammed another chair into the wall, forming stepping stones towards the opening close to the ceiling. She really doesn't want to get caught, does she?

What in the world can I do to stop her? She's out of my Stand's range, her Stand is protecting her from long range shots, I can't move forwards. Gwen's going to get out at this rate!

Before we both knew what was going on, a fist appeared out from behind a painting, smashing her in the face and knocking her off of her perch.  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** finally disappeared the moment she landed on the ground. With that, the chairs stuck to the wall fell down. I lifted one of my legs. I'm free! But how?

"That was close." Blake pulled herself out from behind the painting before reforming back to her normal self. "It's a good thing I happened to be there when she woke back up."

"Blake?" I asked. "You're free from the slippery part of the cafe? But how?"

"Your explosion." She pointed at the area where the Concussive Dust used to be. "The moment I saw white Dust sprout out from your Stand's sword, I gave up pulling myself back upright and let myself get launched into a wall. From there I used my Stand ability and snuck over here. I was planning to just restrain her, but she woke up early."

I dropped myself to a seated position. Yeah, Blake's right. That was way too close of a call. And just to apprehend one prankster… the rest of her team left before we could do anything.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** called back the crystal that blockaded the door before fading away.

"So, what should we do now?" I asked.

The faunus girl shrugged. "Maybe we should get Flora and Felicia out of their ice prison and explain everything."

I nodded. "That seems like a good idea." I stood up. "Let's get them out."

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = September 29, 2017**

* * *

**Nolan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 5**

"No." I flipped the page over, going onto the next one for comparison. "No." A sweat drop started moving down the side of my face. How many minutes has passed? Was it six minutes? Four? I'm trying to do this as fast as I can, but it doesn't seem like I'm going to find our mystery person in time! Come on, where the hell is this chick's work? Everybody's forced to do this, so she has to be somewhere. Seriously, did she happened to skip out on this one particular test due to the flu or something—

My hand flipped over the next page. Wait a minute… this handwriting looks familiar… Could this be? I glanced at the picture on my scroll and looked at the paper in my hand. The essay was written in small handwriting like in the letter. They both share very carefully made lines to the point of being delicate. The markings on the written essay have light pressure, similar to how I remember it on the letter. Loopy letters, wide spacing. The handwriting on this person is basically identical to the one on the letter.

There's only one thing left to check.  **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** crawled behind me. "Belfry, check the scent of this." I lifted the page to its nose. Zesty citrus, cedar, and lavender, that soft yet sweet fond smell. That's it! I found it! And the mystery person is… Octavia Ember? I scratched my head. That name's really familiar… where did I hear it from?

I snapped my fingers a couple of times as I let my mind run wild. Octavia… I feel like I met her before. But where? Where would I—

Something clicked in my mind. Wait a minute, wait a minute… isn't Octavia from Shade like us? Yeah, that's right! She is from Shade! She's part of team… NDGO. She's the shy redhead, I think. But did she send it all the way from Vacuo? I thought that her team wasn't coming until later due to some kind of stomach flu. And besides, why would she send a letter across Sanus when we have scrolls?

Well, it's not my place to ask. A grin crawled up my face as I snapped a picture of the paper before putting everything away. And just like that, I figured out the answer. I'm going to laugh in all of my team's faces once they find out that they've lost the bet. I pocketed the scroll. Now all I have to do is sneak out of here before the teacher who teaches here comes back—

Goosebumps crawled down my back when I heard the jingling of keys. A gruff voice spoke outside the door. "While I'm honored that you wanted to order dinner for the two of us, I have to decline Bart. I'm taking my own wife out tonight. We don't get to go out that often, considering her job shipping Dust by train. It's hard on both of us that we chose dangerous professions, although it's more bad timing on her part. We have to enjoy the time we can spend together."

"That makes a lot of sense, Peter. I'm married to my work, but I can definitely understand the sentiment." My heart pounded in my chest as I heard the doorknob start to rustle. "Well, the doorknob's stuck again," one of the teachers groaned. Oh gods, they're going to catch me in here! Shoot, what do I do, what do I—! That's it!

I leaped on top of my Stand, causing it to shake in discomfort. "I'm sorry about this, Belfry." I wrapped my arms and legs around its stomach. "But I need you to get on the ceiling right now." It shook its head before starting its climb up the wall. I had to suppress a yelp as I felt myself slide on the scaly skin. Ow, that's prickly! Okay, shut up for a moment Nolan. You just have to hold on long enough for the teachers to pass, then we can just slip out without anyone noticing. This should be—

We managed to get on the ceiling just before the door opened, revealing a man with glasses and green hair alongside a fat muschased man. The unkempt man continued: "I should just buy a new door and install it myself. But let's get back to the original topic. I was planning on asking you about some help on geography, considering how you used to survey the lands past Mountain Glenn, but I guess we can schedule this for later—"

"Oh no, we can have this talk now, Bart. The students are off early to train, remember?"

"... That's right! Ah, it's my airheadedness again." The green-haired teacher adjusted his glasses. "I can never get used to this schedule. It was way easier while other Kingdoms were hosting. All we had to worry about were the missions Ozpin would put on us. But now there's way too much downtime watching the rest of the students."

"Well, the shoe's on the other foot now, huh?" They both let out a laugh. "I can never get used to this empty moment. You would think teachers like us would never have to stop working ever?

"That's true. There's way too much free time. It's a good thing I had this little side project about finding this artifact." They walked over to the desk, where Bart grabbed a thermos and took a long sip from it. "Ah, that hits the spot. Did I ever tell you about my search?"

"You mentioned it, but we've never had a conversation about it."

"Right. Surprisingly enough, Mr. Arc was the one to bring up the fact. I never expected a boy like him to have such an interest in archeology. But anyways, I've been trying to pinpoint any locations where Mistral has an influence on the continent in Sanus. Despite all of the research done, I can't find any records of any previous Mistralian settlement receiving a shipment of any priceless artifacts." I felt my palms start to feel sweaty. Can I move without getting caught? I can't exactly leave now. All it takes for me to get caught is for one of them to look up and then it's over for me.

Bart continued: "So I was thinking that if there were any shipments, they must either be intercepted by bandits or the trade routes they went on were destroyed by Grimm. You've been in the area, can you give me some insight?"

The portly professor let out a hum while he stroked his mustache. "Well, most bandits in the Mistralian and Valean settling zone were pro-Vale. So anything they take will eventually end back in Vale. It can't be that. So it had to be obtained from a caravan who was attacked by Grimm. The sad part is I can't give you much besides that. There were a lot of paths created on a whim, so it's difficult to know just how many were opened up, not without more surveying. Plus, there's all of the negativity remaining from the settlement disagreements. We're not going to figure out what shipment this artifact came in."

The sound of a scroll ringing interrupted them. "Sorry about that Bart, that might be the missus. Hello? Oh, Ozpin, I didn't expect— What?! I'll be over there immediately." He snapped the electronic shut. "We have to go. Explosion in the city."

"Another terrorist attack? We should hurry." The two teachers left without another word. I held my breath for a couple more seconds before dropping from the ceiling. Whew. Lucked out that time. But now I gotta get out of here. My mind was a blur was I left the classroom. An attack on the city? Did it have to do with the Stands? Was this what Ruby was talking about in their search?

"Nolan!" I looked up to see the rest of my team standing in front of me. When did they get there? Branz had his hand on his face. "Good gods, we were looking for you. What the hell are you doing right here?"

"Not important. But here's the thing. I figured out our mystery person."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The person who's sending the letters. It's not anybody at the school. It's—"

"Holy— This that team BRNZ?"

What in the—? I turned around to see three members of team NDGO standing behind me. Octavia's eyes widened as they flew over to May before darting somewhere else. I can't believe it… NDGO was here all along? My eyes narrowed.

"Okay, guys. We're going to need to talk this out."

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song References: Gwen Darcy's 「LADY MARMALADE」was inspired by Patti LeBelle's Lady Marmalade. Now, I know there's the more popular version covered by Christina Aguilera, but for the sake of simplicity, I'll go with the original one. It's a contemporary R&B song originally released in 1974. Now, I chose this song because of the lyrics. It's mainly about a prostitute going about her profession. An "entertainer" of sorts. But I'm not implying Gwen is sexually promiscuous. It's more about the wiliness of those working such a profession. The ladies of the night have to be slippery enough to nab a deal from anyone and stingy/persistently sticky enough to get their money from said customers; that's where Gwen's powers take inspiration from.
> 
> Weiss Schnee's 「I.D.I. TIME」was inspired by Imagine Dragons' I Think It's Time. It's an alternative/indie rock song released in 2012. Well, originally Weiss' Stand would've just been Imagine Dragons. But as I was writing this chapter I realized I had a plot thread where Weiss couldn't summon her Stand. So I thought, maybe I could use an Imagine Dragons song to represent that. And I Think It's Time does a great job with that. It's a song about new starts and moving past their own beginnings to something new. It fit her arc well, so I went with it. But why use I.D.I. Time instead of I.T.I. Time? I like the flow of I.D.I. Time better.


	20. Treat You Better

I placed my fingers close to my bow and scratched the base of my ears as I watched the blue-haired sister pace back and forth over the broken remains of her cafe. "Oh gods, this isn't good. All of the tables are destroyed beyond repair, there are several plates broken and scattered across the floor, all of the customers have left the building and are probably telling everybody about what happened." Flora combed a lock of her hair back as she frowned. "This isn't good. With all of the things we have to do, we have to close the cafe for a while until we get this place back to normal."

"Cheer up, Flora," her sister responded. Felicia gave her older sister a smile. "While the store might not be in the best of conditions, at least we still have a store. That's a lot better than the time we became refugees. Plus, you've seen the numbers and the reviews about this place. People love the food here and they're willing to come back for it! That's not going to go away while we do general repairs."

The elder sister nodded. "True… true. But that's not our only problem. There's also the issue of money. We took out a loan to rent this place out, remember? While our grand opening made enough lien so that we can keep renting out this place for another month, we're going to have to spend that on cleaning up, buying furniture, getting it transported here, and so on."

She glanced at the slumped body of Gwen. "And even if the girl was able to pay for all of the damages she inflicted today, there's no way she could be able to pay off all of that and the rent coming in a couple of weeks. I mean, look at her. She's still young; there's no way she managed to amass such a fortune in such a short time." Flora rubbed the bridge of her nose. "We have to find another source of revenue quickly. Otherwise, we have no choice but to close down this cafe and move to somewhere cheaper."

My eyes widened. What, does that mean if the Icee sisters can't pay for this… there'll be no more fish soup? No! That was the best fish soup that I ever had in a long, long time! I can't let that slip through my hands! I felt my fingers curl up into the shape of a claw. These two must've loved doing this, and now their dreams are ruined. All because of Gwen.

"I can help with that." Everybody's eyes turned towards Weiss as she stepped forwards. "I am a Schnee, after all. I have a family fortune that I can tap into. After insurance, I can help cover the rest of the costs you guys might have." My eyes widened in disbelief. She was always a little stingy with tapping into her family fortune. I remember her talking about how she didn't want to rely on it, stating she only wanted to use the money she earned from her performances. What changed?

Flora looked at the heiress before shaking her head. "I appreciate the gesture, but…" She cleared her throat. "As generous as your offer might be, I have to politely decline. I'm aware of your heritage and your company's… reputation—" Weiss flinched at that. The owner continued: "—and while I mean no offense, I don't wish to be in the debt of the SDC." She gestured to the room around her. "It might not truly find success, but we find enjoyment in this line of work. It's a small business venture for both me and my sister, and I'm not interested in the help of—"

"—Then consider it payment for the damages my friend and I caused trying to stop Gwen." Her eyes flickered the ballerina, then to the ground. "What happened here was… unfortunate, and inexcusable on my part. While this girl here was in the wrong, what my friend and I did was just as irresponsible. The two of us acted in order to give you two some sense of justice, but we destroyed your store doing so. Think of this as an apology for letting this get out of hand." She looked back up at Flora. "I have no intention of investing in your business, nor do I want to take it over. This is a token of goodwill from me to you."

The blue-haired girl narrowed her eyes, furrowing her brow before giving us a bow. "Thank you very much for your kindness. You have a good heart indeed." She turned to look at the girl in purple. "However, there is still one thing we have to take care of. What are we going to do with her? She does have to make up for everything she's done to the store. I'm thinking we can get her to clean up the store, but what about after that?"

"You know," Felicia started, stepping into the conversation. "I've thought of an idea where we can earn more revenue." She pointed a finger in the air. "There's been a trend recently where people ordered food from home, and then someone would come and deliver freshly made meals. We could do something like that until the café reopens, and maybe even longer if this proves to be popular."

Flora hummed, nodding her head as she thought it through. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. It would be helpful to have the extra lien. But what does the girl have to do with it?"

At that the younger sister smiled. "Community service. Have her do this while we get the cafe in order. She won't get any pay while doing so. I like to think of it as a mandatory internship. We'll also have the other employees do this, but as far as we care, this will be her responsibility until we officially open again in a few months time or however long it takes to fix the cafe."

"Hmm…" The blue-haired girl lifted the corner of her mouth just a little bit. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I would be completely on board with that idea." She let out a hum. "Well, that means that the only thing left to do is to wake her up and tell her the news." We stood silently in the broken cafe. "… But now that I think of it," Flora started. "We do have to file a police report if we want to claim the insurance. We can't exactly just let this girl go right now."

Huh… she makes a good point. The rest of the restaurant groaned at the realization. The police have to punish her for what she has done here. How else would they expect to maintain order in the city of Vale? It would be really easy to make an example out of her and be done with it. Then there's the fact that she's a representative of Vacuo. This could cause a lot of trouble on the international scale! Shade would probably kick her out for publicly embarrassing them in the days right before the Vytal Festival! Her life would effectively be over.

But wait a minute… What's going to happen to us as well? We caused just as much property damage as Gwen did. I placed a thumb on my chin. Beacon would pay for any damages caused by students. I wonder if this applies to Gwen as well. Would she be covered by the school?

I perked up as the sounds of rumbling reached my ears, interrupting my thoughts. "Is it just me, or do you guys hear some kind of vehicle approaching?"

Everybody stopped and paused. "I hear it," Weiss noted. "It sounds like a motorcycle. But Yang didn't take Bumblebee out of the garage today, right?" I shook my head. The heiress shrugged. "Then it might just be some passerby or something like that. What's the big deal about it?"

A second later, the motorcycle zoomed by the entrance of the cafe. Yang and Ruby were both seated, glancing behind them frantically. They both jumped off the bike, rolling into the store as the bike tilted and crashed into a nearby lamppost. Wild screams escaped them as the two sisters cocked their weapons and pointed them wildly into the store.

"Found ya, criminal!" Yang yelled, jabbing her gauntlets into the air while taking on a pose similar to those dumb Western movies. "The law's here to shoot down the bad guys! Bang! Bang!" Everybody stood silent at the sisters' wild entrance. I can see Weiss' eye start to twitch while the maid sisters looked confused. Yang's proud smile dropped quickly. "Wait, why are you guys standing around? Wasn't there somebody attacking this place?" I shook my head as I groaned at my partner. Yang blinked. "So the attacker isn't here?"

Weiss finally burst. "Of course, you numbskull! We stopped her some time ago! See?" She jabbed a finger towards the still unconscious Gwen.

The brawler blinked once, then twice as the situation dawned on her. "... Oh. Ohhhhhh…" Ruby and Yang glanced at each other before my partner shrugged. "... So I guess that means our entrance is—"

"You look ridiculous doing that," I stated, shaking my head again while my face turned red in sheer embarrassment. I rubbed the base of my forehead. "Just plain ridiculous."

With that the two sisters groaned, dropping their weapons as they started pouting. "Aww, really?" Yang reverted her gauntlets back to their bracelet form. "That sucks. Well, at least the whole entire place isn't completely destroyed like what I did to that one bar some time ago. Don't ask." With that she ran forwards, snatching both me and Blake before yanking us into a hug. "But I'm so glad that everybody's okay."

Weiss and I wheezed as Yang's iron grip made it hard to breathe. "Yang…" I tapped her on the shoulder, getting her attention. I waved my hand across my neck, and her face nodded in understanding.

"Oh! Sorry about that." She let go of us before gesturing to the area around us. "So… what's the story behind all this?"

I let out a sigh. "It's a prank gone wrong."

"You mean like those stupid videos on RemTube? I can imagine the title already: 'I Dropped a Bomb in A Cafe? Prank Gone Wrong!'" The blonde girl slapped her knee and laughed. "Hah! Good one, Blake. I didn't know you were a joker. No, seriously, what happened?"

"Blake's not joking," Weiss stated. "It really was a prank gone wrong."

"Really? No!" Yang gave us a look of disbelief. "There's no way! You're saying that somebody escalated a prank to the point where they ignited explosives?!"

I glanced at Weiss before nodding my head at Yang. "Well… yes. It's a funny story that's… complicated. I think it's better to explain what happened as we go back home."

Our team leader looked up at that. "Wait, right now?" I nodded our head, leading to Ruby pouting. "But I've always wanted to try out that strawberry sherbert that Weiss kept telling me about!" She let out a sigh. "But it's not like we could eat anywhere, with all of the tables broken and all that." The girl shrugged her shoulders, eyes going downcast. "Oh well, I guess."

Felicia raised her eyebrows at Ruby. "Excuse me for the interruption, but you mean our strawberry sorbet, right? We don't make strawberry sherbet. And it's pronounced 'sherbet.'"

"Wait, really?" Our reaper's eyes widened. "Aren't they the same thing, just with different names?" The younger co-owner shook her head. Ruby let out a long hum. "Then what's the difference?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked that question!" The pink haired girl clapped her hands together. "A sherbet has roughly one or two percent milk fat from mixing in dairy products, while a sorbet has no milk whatsoever. However, they are often confused together because one, they are both considered water ice desserts due to their low milk fat content and two, the process of making each of these recipes are really similar.

"Okay…" Ruby scratched her head in confusion. "So a sorbet has no milk, and sherbet does?"

The girl nodded her head. "That's right. Despite this, the two recipes couldn't taste any more different. For starters—" She raised a finger in the air. "Give me a moment, it's easier if I show you the difference." And with that the maid ran into the kitchen. The rest of the girls stared in silence for a moment before she popped back out with two glasses. One of them had a scoop that was orange in color, while the other was scarlet. The orange dessert had a more creamy texture, while the other looked icier.

"Felicia?" Flora asked. "I know educating people on their desserts is nice, but don't you think that we should save that until we actually get this place back open?"

"Well, why not?" Felicia shrugged. "Nobody's going to come in, and we're probably never going to make anything for awhile while we deal with the repairs." The elder sighed at that, rolling her eyes but not making any movements to stop her younger sister.

"Well, I guess that's the okay then. Alright, so this here—" Felicia set the orange colored dessert on the front counter. "—is our orange sherbet." The maid placed a small spoon on the rim of the glass with a flourish. "Go ahead, try it. It's on the house." With that, Ruby picked up the dessert and placed a spoonful in her mouth with a pop. "Describe the flavors," the pink-haired girl continued. "What do you taste?"

"It's… a little creamy." Ruby nodded her head, eyes glancing up as she consumed the dish. "Not as strong as ice cream, though. It's more like…" She snapped her fingers. "Like coffee creamer creamy. It's surprisingly not sour like I expected, but it's distinctively orange flavored."

"Alright." Felicia took the orange sherbet out of the girl's hand and replaced it with the sorbet. "Now try this one."

Ruby nodded, taking a scoop of the new dessert. Her eyes widened the moment she placed it in her mouth. "Wow," she whispered. "This one's like if I just took a bite of a strawberry! There isn't any kind of creaminess whatsoever, but the fruity flavor stands out on its own!" She took another spoonful. "This is really good."

"And my job is done here." The pink-haired maid smiled as she stepped away from the counter.

Flora sighed. "Now back to the matter at hand. Felicia, as nice as it is to show somebody the differences in desserts, isn't it more important that we figure out whether we should press charges on the unconscious girl in front of us?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," Ruby stated as she kept eating the sorbet. "Beacon will take responsibility for her."

Weiss raised her eyebrows at that. "And how would you know that?"

"The Headmaster told me about this earlier." She let out a sigh after her last scoop of the fruity dessert. "The academy is supposed to take care of its students, so if one of them gets into trouble, Beacon has to take responsibility. I'm sure that they'll make some kind of deal that will work with you guys."

The blue-haired sister bowed. "Thank you very much, then. While we can't exactly serve anyone at the moment, when we do open back up I hope to see you four back here."

"Alright then!" Ruby placed the empty glass on the countertop. "I guess that means it's time for us to go!"

"Well, that's fine." I stretched while letting out a yawn. "After everything that happened today, I wouldn't mind spending it on something more relaxing." I started towards the front door.

Yang and Ruby paled. "Um, Blake?" The blonde grabbed my wrist. "It's not a good idea to leave that way."

"Why not?"

"You know how Ruby and I were riding on a motorcycle?" I nodded my head. "You realize that the bike we were riding on isn't Bumblebee?"

"What are you trying to—" The realization dawned on me. My eyes narrowed at my partner. "Yang… who did you take the bike from?"

"Thrush!" A voice sounded outside alongside several rumbling motorcycles. "Isn't that your bike over there!"

"No doubt about that! That means the girls who stole my bike's gotta be in this area!" We heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked. "Okay, listen up! We're going to search all of these buildings for those two girls, and we're going to make them pay for messing with my bike. You hear that, punks? Trent Thrush's coming for you!"

Yang jabbed a finger towards the door. "Yeah… him. We borrowed it from him. In our defense we needed the ride to get over here. But forget about that, we have to leave now before he finds us!" She turned over to the two sisters. "Is there any back entrance that we can use to get out of here?"

The maid sisters nodded, pointing to the kitchen doors. "Once you pass through those doors, it should be straight ahead," Flora stated. "We'll take care of anyone who comes in."

"Thank you." I turned towards the rest of Team RWBY. "So I guess this is the part where we sneak out, right?" The rest of them nodded.

With that, we ran towards and through the kitchen doors. Compared to the cafe outside, it's a lot more metallic in here. There's everything one would expect from a normal restaurant kitchen, from ovens to stovetops to stations with half made food and so much more. I resisted whistling. It's a surprisingly big kitchen for such a small business.

Most of the team had nearly made it to the door when I spotted something. The door to the freezer room was slightly ajar. My curiosity peaked. I always wanted to know what was inside the fish soup. Do we have enough time to check? I glanced out of the door window. No one. I think I could make it.

"Blake!" Weiss hissed as I crept over to the freezer room. "What are you doing?"

"I have to check something out for a moment." My hand wrapped around the door handle.

"What— The fish? Blake, now's not the time for that!" Weiss rubbed her eyes in frustration. "We have a crazy biker who wants to shoot us! How is the thing on your mind right now the fish you had an hour ago?"

"It's a curiosity that has to be satisfied! Besides, it won't take long."

Yang smiled at that. "I guess we're going to figure out if curiosity killed the cat—"

"Shut up, I'm going in." I popped the fridge door wide open and slipped in. Almost immediately I started to shiver with the sudden change in temperature. A shelf lined each side of the room, filled to the brim with various vegetables and meats. Alright, now where in the world can I find the section for frozen fish?

My faunus ears registered the sound of someone yelling. Someone masculine. Most likely one of the bikers who entered the building. My eyes roamed over the shelves. Where is it, where is it— there! I ran over to a vacuum-sealed package of fish. This might be it! Okay, so what is it… Red snapper. Hmm… Oh! It is red snapper! It's been awhile since I had red snapper, but now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense!

"Oh really?" The masculine voice was closer. "So your place is trashed, yet you deny that you saw a blonde and brunette girl come in here? That seems a bit suspicious, especially considering how my friend's bike crashed right in front of this store. Are you sure you didn't see anyone?"

"I'm certain." That sounded like Flora. "This mess is due to the customer lying over there. If two girls went through here, my sister and I would notice them."

"Then again, it's plausible that they managed to sneak by you two and hid somewhere. I'm going to need to search your place."

"You don't have that right!" That was Felicia. "You can't just search us like that!"

"Yes I can. As a Huntsman looking for a criminal, it is within my rights to search a building if it meant finding said criminal."

Flora spoke again. "And what are you planning to do with them? Shoot them with a shotgun?"

"That was mainly an intimidation tactic. We never had any intention on hurting the girls. Just have them apologize for what they did. But if they attacked us… it's good to have something on hand, just in case."

I bit my lip. Alright, curiosity is sated, let's get out of here. I started to creep towards the freezer door when I heard the kitchen doors fly open. "Again, don't worry you two. Nobody should get hurt as long as nobody panics. We might look like thugs, but we're still Huntsmen at the end of the day. Our loyalty is to the people first— Why is that freezer door ajar?"

"Oh! That!" Felicia let out a laugh. "Oh silly me! I left the door open again. I should really remember to close it. If you don't mind, I'll just get to that—"

"No. Not yet. You don't mind if I check the freezer for any people hiding? I don't doubt that this was an accident, but that doesn't mean people can't be hiding here." I swallowed. That's not good. Should I bother hiding? No, that's not a good idea. He will surely notice if I move now. Hmm… if I use  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** to merge with the door, would he notice if he opens it? Oh course he can! There's still a 2D version of me that will be imprinted! But maybe… I looked at the top of the door. I think I can reach the top of that…

My Stand materialized behind me. I took one last breath before pressing my hand against the door. That crawling feeling hit me again as it sunk right in. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it. I dived right in, and in moments I found myself looking right into the freezer. Alright, no time to lose. My eyes flickered to the ledge of the door. Just have to get up there before this guy catches me inside.

With that I leaped up, throwing my fingers over the ledge. Huh. That was… actually pretty easy. Then I tried pulling myself up, only for a wave of pain wash over my back. I resisted letting out a grunt as I relaxed my arms. What the— I can't pull myself up? Is this a limitation of my Stand ability? I can't pull myself upwards a certain surface. I glanced at the side end of the door. But what if I had some help? What if I braced myself and walked up that way? I heard heavy footsteps coming my way. Well, I'm about to find out.

I swung myself over, pressing my feet against the edge. I took a tiny step upwards. No pain. Okay, so that's a good sign… Now, just to inch my way forwards until I reach the top of the door, then I'll leap out and make a run for it. Shouldn't be too bad. The door flew open. Now! I flung myself over the top before emerging out from the wall and slamming into the floor with a thud.

"What was that?" the man said. He closed the door before spotting my prone form. "What the— How'd you get in here?" I didn't answer his question, picking myself up as I made a break for it. "Wait a moment— stop! Get back here! I have a couple of questions for you!" I ignored his order, bursting through the exit and into the chilly afternoon. Not a moment later I slammed the door behind me.

"Blake!" I turned to see the rest of Team RWBY waving at me from a distance. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

"No talking just run!" They took my advice, turning around and making a break from the cafe with me.

* * *

After that exciting day, everyone went back home to Beacon. Before I knew it, Weiss, Blake, Yang and I found ourselves sitting in the library. I had my doodle diary filled with old weapon designs out. Several weapon parts were drawn out, forming weapons ranging from guns to hand-to-hand melee weapons to even some armor pieces that could double as improvised weapons. I think there were twenty-two pages dedicated to Crescent Rose alone. I let out a pleasant sigh. It's nice to make a couple of doodles of other weapons, just to make sure I don't get stuck at only being good with scythe and sniper rifle pieces. Who knows? I might need to use something else one day.

This time I sketched out a couple of lines of the chain daggers from that Stand dream so long ago. I was outlining the weapons that were most likely used by Mom back in her heyday. The tip of my pencil worked fast, scratching against the paper as I roughed out its wicked sharp design. A giant metallic pivot clamped a blade together in the middle. Something that grabbed my interest is how one end took on a hook shape, while the other end was barbed. I put the eraser tip in my mouth and gnawed on it.

Hmm… Now that I think of it, how was this supposed to work? Originally I thought that they acted as a pair of chain and daggers. But now that I put in more thought about it, why would Mom have a mechashift part in the middle of the blade? It must be able to shift forms. In fact, I bet that the weapon has three blade forms: the dagger, the kama, and the hook/handaxe. That allows Mom to have more options when throwing the blade. There's also a Dust chamber in the back for applying an elemental effect on the steel.

I finished putting in the last detail on the weapon and admired how everything seemed to fit together. It's a simpler design, but at the same time it crammed in so many functions and allowed her to do so much. No wonder Uncle Qrow loved to talk about her weapon expertise when he was helping me. I drew a box on the bottom corner before stopping. What did Mom used to call her weapons? Dad and Uncle Qrow never really told me about that, did they? I hummed to myself. A name for Mom's weapons… I think I'll call it Astera Rose. Something about that name sounds… right at the moment. I'll change it if Dad or Uncle Qrow corrects me.

"So, was it worth it?" I looked away from my doodles to see Weiss frown at Blake. My partner set down a book about Dust formations and leaned towards the faunus. "Was whatever you found in that freezer room worth making us run all the way back to the airships like fugitives? Where we all had to look over our backs for any bikers lusting for our blood?"

The faunus nodded, giving us an uncharacteristically toothy grin. "It's red snapper."

Yang glanced up from her side of the table. "What about red snapper?"

"That's the type of fish they put in the fish soup!" Blake let out a sigh. "It was something that bothered me ever since I put it in my mouth, but I couldn't figure out the name of the fish. But now that I know, I can sleep easy."

My sister blinked once, then twice at her partner. "Okay… it's just really weird that you would care enough to put us in danger of getting caught. Why didn't you ask the employees or something?"

Blake shrugged. "I forgot to ask after everything that's happened."

"But didn't you say to me afterward that—" Before Weiss could say another word, the cat faunus covered her teammate's mouth.

"I. Forgot. To. Ask," Blake repeated. "There's nothing more to it, okay?"

"Alright…" With that Yang pulled out a game board and dropped it on the table. "Well then, who wants to play Remnant: The Board Game?"

Everybody glanced at each other. "Well, it's not like we have anything better to do with the rest of the day," I said. "We don't have classes for the rest of the day, so why not?"

The blonde clapped her hands together. "Great! I call Mistral!"

I slammed my hand down. "Not this time, dear sister! You always pick Mistral! That's like the best Kingdom in the game! No, this time we're mixing it up. We're going to shuffle the Kingdom cards and deal them randomly. That way we all have an equal chance at getting Mistral."

"Ruby, are you still bitter about the last time we played?" Yang chuckled as she set the game pieces up. "Anybody could win with any Kingdom. Mistral just has abilities that give them an early league. Besides, Neptune smoked all of us last time with Vale, which has average abilities."

Weiss sighed as she placed her chin on her palm. "Weren't you bitter about him winning?"

My sister's face scrunched up. "... No. No I'm not." Her eyes flickered at the rest of us. "But that's not the point. All I'm saying is that every Kingdom has a specific start, and Mistral just happens to have a start that generally favors them."

Blake sighed. "Just shuffle and deal the cards already, Yang. If you're good at the game, it wouldn't matter what kind of start you get, right?"

"Well yeah, but— Fine." Yang shook her head as she dealt the Kingdom cards randomly. "Be that way. I can still beat you guys easily even if I don't get Mistral— Hey! What do you know?" She flipped over her card to reveal the symbol for Mistral. "I guess it doesn't matter, does it?"

I felt my jaw drop in an instant. "Wha— How did you— Yang! Are you cheating?"

"What? I did just like to told me to do." She smirked to herself as she grabbed the Mistral deck. "I mean there are only four kingdoms to choose from. There's still a one-fourth chance that I could've gotten Mistral anyways. I guess luck's on my side this time, huh?"

"Well, we'll see about that." I flipped over my card to see the kingdom of Vale. Aww, gods no! Not Vale! I've never won a single game playing as Vale! This is just the worst— I pulled myself together, taking long breaths. "Okay. It's fine. This is fine. Calm down Ruby, this shouldn't be a big deal. I can make this work." I snatched the green Vale cards and shuffled them together.

The reason why I don't like playing as Vale is that its deck relies so much on maintaining momentum. Atlas tends to tank until their tech moves high enough to overwhelm the other kingdoms. Mistral is focused on creating a strong economy before moving into rapid expansion. Vacuo serves does well in hit-and-run tactics, basically being able to ignore random events. But with Vale, their abilities rely on them being able to increase power exponentially. If nobody notices, Vale can become a powerhouse. However, if anything slows me down, I might not be able to rebuild momentum before somebody knocks me out of the game.

And the worst thing is that Yang knows that. I gave my sister a glare from behind my cards. Weiss and Blake might ignore me, but Yang is going to try and stop me as soon as possible. I got to play this smart.

"I'll start this game off by expanding into Eastern Sanus." I dropped a couple of soldiers into the marked territory.

"Interesting…" The sly blonde laced her fingers together. "Not going for Patch, I see?"

"Considering that I already own the only territory connecting to it? I think I don't need to take Patch yet." I drew an event card. "And I got Rapid Growth, which I will use to up my army count in both territories."

"Your funeral. Alright, my turn!" Yang snatched up a card.

The game went by like a blur. Like expected, Yang immediately went after me the moment she got a stable economy going. However, my gambit paid off as her early fleet got carved up by the entrenched fighters. Blake mainly did nothing, holing up in Solitas and slowly moving up the tech tree. Meanwhile, Weiss sent a strike team into my territories, forcing me into a two-sided battle. I still managed to snatch the island of Vytal and forced a ceasefire between Weiss and Yang.

It would buy me time, but not long. I bit my lip as Vacuo was being steamrolled by Blake's army. In a turn or two Weiss is going to be knocked out of the game, and Blake's going to come after me. While Yang and I created an uneasy alliance to take down Atlas, I'm starting to worry we banded too late. Blake's got two entire fleets hammering at Weiss' forces! I peeked at my cards. And my hands filled with traps! I can't do anything to help Weiss beat back Blake!

"Oh, you guys play that board game?" Everybody turned to see the gray-haired boy peering at the table. "Who's winning?"

"Who are you?" Weiss huffed.

"Wait, we met yesterday, I think." I pointed at him. "Hmm… your name was… Mercury, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Hey, glad that you remembered! To give you a quick rundown, I got dragged over here by my teammates against my will." The boy jabbed a finger at Cinder and Emerald sitting at a nearby table. While Emerald was staring at us right away, Cinder fiddled around with some kind of clear glass tube, like a pen body or something before looking up. Both of them gave all of us a long stare before giving us a quick wave. "And I saw you guys doing something, so I thought why not ditch my teammates and watch something interesting for once?"

"We're right here," Emerald noted.

Mercury gave her a smirk. "I know, Emi. I know." He turned back towards us. "Wow, Atlas is just massacring Vacuo right now. You guys let the girl playing Atlas grow too far, did you?"

Weiss scowled. "Could you just go away or something? The last thing I need is somebody to remind me of how much I suck at this game."

The boy grinned even harder. "Nope," he chuckled, popping the p in the word. "You know something interesting? Atlas forgot to cover their main territories. Seriously, just one Grimm strike event there can knock Atlas right off the board. And Mistral, what are you doing with your economy? Why aren't you focusing on taking the open territories of Anima? It's like you started doing that, then stopped for some stupid reason."

"Can't you see that I'm doing that right now?" Yang hissed.

"Still way too slow for a usual Mistral opening. Vacuo's getting screwed over right now, so no comments there. Vale…" He quickly peeked at my cards. "Actually, you're in a good position. Just need a little bit of luck to put yourself in the lead. This could snowball with one good draw."

"What?" I looked through my hand. I don't see anything that could potentially be game-changing. A lot of it was mainly traps and boosts. What could he possibly mean?

"Pfht." Weiss placed her cards down and crossed her arms. "If you're going to be so critical with how we play, why don't you sit down and play the game for yourself?"

"Eh." He shrugged his shoulders. "I care enough to watch a game and call out terrible plays. I don't care enough to actually play it myself. Plus, it's fun getting under other people's skin. After all, in strategy the winds of favor can change at any time."

Emerald leaned her chair back as she twisted her head towards us. "You get that from a fortune cookie?" The boy ignored her, instead giving us a toothy smile.

"… I see," Blake noted, giving the boy a glare. "I'm going to take my turn now. With my Factory card, I'll build a carrier and place it right outside the border of Atlas. And then I'll continue my attack on Weiss."

A carrier? Wait a minute… Everything clicked into place. I have a Hostile Takeover card, which isn't really helpful considering how any unit I take is just going to get shot down, followed by swift retaliation by the other players. But now that Blake built a carrier, and the fact that it's the only thing protecting her capital… I can take her out right here! I glanced at the boy standing to the side. Did he really realize that from a single observation?

"—And with Weiss destroyed, I'll end my turn by moving my fleet towards Vale." Weiss slammed her head on the table, muttering something about the game being rigged. Blake gestured to me. "Your turn."

A grin crept up my face. "I'll draw my card and then play Hostile Takeover!" The cat faunus' face twisted in horror as I snatched the carrier she just built. "With this, I'll fly over to Atlas and bomb it! I just need to roll a ten or higher." I rubbed the pair of dice in my hands before dropping them on the board. "Come on, ten or higher, ten or higher." The pair landed on eleven. "Yes! Blake, you are out of the game!"

"What?" She leaned over the board, looking at the dice, then back at her hand. "Do I have anything to stop this… no. Fine. I guess I'm dead then."

"And that's when I step in," Yang giggled as she rubbed her hands. "I'm playing Wartime Propaganda, doubling my force's fighting strength and sending a full force invasion into Vale!"

"Not so fast!" I slammed my hand against the table as I stood up. "Because you just fell for my trap! Divine Winds of Remnant! Your army's cut in half!"

"So? I'll press on the attack. Even with my bad start, I still outnumber your troops two to one!" Yang pressed a finger against the table. "All it takes are some good rolls to put you down."

I laughed. "Oh, Yang. You poor, poor soul. You've walked into a minefield of traps! Because now I play Turncoat! A third of your army's all mine! And then there's Cultural Outrage, which spawns several creatures of Grimm in your boundaries! And now I'm going to boost my own army with my own Wartime Propaganda and attack!"

"Noo!" Blue cards fell out of Yang's hands as she grasped her hair. "This can't be possible!"

"It is!" I grabbed the dice at my side. "Surrender now, dear sister, while you still can. I will be a merciful ruler if you do."

"I— I… I give." She threw her cards down on the table. "Good game, Ruby. All of Remnant is now yours." She rubbed the base of her nose. "Stupid card draws leading into a combo," she muttered under her breath.

"Well… that ended quickly." Mercury stood up and sighed. "Are you guys going to play another game? It's kinda sad that I caught the tail end of it."

"Are you going to join in?" I asked as I rearranged everything back to its original place.

"Nah. Like I said, not my thing. It's more fun watching other people fight." His eyes flickered back to his teammates. "Besides, Emerald would never let me hear the end of it if she caught me playing such a 'dorky' game." The boy empathized the word with air quotes.

"You know it doesn't matter what you do anyway, right Mercury?" The girl with the mint colored hair got up and approached the rest of us. "You're always going to be the dork of the team."

"Oh, says you, Ms. 'I-Only-Read-Avant-Garde-Novels.' If I'm the dork, you're the edgy hipster with the superiority complex!"

"Ppht." She rolled her crimson eyes at her teammate. "Go ahead and believe that. Enjoy your dumb comics while you're at that. At least I don't need pretty colors and overly muscular characters to enjoy what I'm reading."

"Why not? I don't see anything wrong with enjoying a bit of manservice, you know." He wiggled his eyebrows at Emerald. "Considering how far that stick is up your butt, you could use a little bit of relief once in awhile."

"And that's why we can't have a decent conversation about books or anything like that. It always comes down to large pecs for you and how I'm sexually repressed." She shook her head. "If I didn't know any better, I would assume you're deep within the closet frustrated that you aren't getting any action."

"Wow… Okay." Blake whittled her thumbs. "Going hard with the insults, I see."

Emerald glanced at us. "Yeah, we really like to hit close to home with our words. It happens when we're stuck with each other for the time being. But I don't think I've introduced myself to everybody. Emerald Sustrai. I'm already familiar with Ruby."

I nodded. "Emerald, these are my teammates: my sister Yang, my teammate Blake, and my partner Weiss." I gestured to each one of them before facing Emerald again. "So, how do you like Vale so far?"

The mint-haired girl nodded. "It's been an… interesting experience so far. I think recently my team went to a boat party. Most of my team found it fun, but me… not so much. Felt more like going to school or working trying to interact and mingle with such a large crowd. Not that I have a problem with crowds, just bothering to talk to them. I'm just more of an 'ignore-everyone' kind of person. Like, if I can keep people this far away from me—" She stuck both of her arms out and waved them around. "—I would be a happy gal."

"Have fun dying alone and happy then." The gray-haired boy let out a snicker as he stepped into her personal boundary, earning a glare from his teammate.

"Still one annoying person I have to get rid of before that could happen," she muttered under her breath.

"Ooh, I think I hear treason in my ears. Could you say that again?"

"Nothing."

I shifted my weight, coughing to get the pair's attention. "So, uh, continuing on. I've heard about how your team doesn't really have anything to do right now. Do you guys wanna hang out with us for the moment? We're playing Remnant: The Board Game, but we can pair up or something and work as teams or something."

"Actually, I'll sit out of this one," Blake responded. She turned over to the dark-skinned girl. "So you read avart-garde? Which ones?"

"Another book-lover? Not a lot of those these days." Emerald brought up the corner of her mouth as she sat down with us. "I've read  _Ulysses_  and  _Pale Fire_. Those I found to be really strong reads. I would recommend them to anyone. I've also read  _A Clockwork Orange._ "

Mercury smirked. "You mean like the movie?"

The girl shot a dirty look at him. "No, nothing like that! You've only watched the movie for the sake of the violence, you dumb brute. Of course you wouldn't care about the actual meaning. It's a book about limiting free will by forcing standards on the inherently evil by the inherently evil." She took in a deep breath. "You can't make a person good if the world you live in is just as bad as that person. No, you have to either convince others it's better to be good or change the world so that evil doesn't affect other people. So many people missed that point, especially considering how the movie dropped the last chapter.

She let out a groan. "What was the director thinking by removing that chapter? Was he thinking: 'oh, let's end the story with showing how terrible the world is and not show that people can grow out of their horrible past to do something more worthwhile with their lives.' Seriously, what a sociopathic loonie."

He laughed as he leaned towards us. "Easy way to trigger her right here. Never fails."

"Shut up, Mercury." Emerald turned towards Blake. "But yeah, those are the ones that immediately come to mind."

"I've read  _A Clockwork Orange._ " The faunus girl gave Emerald a small smile."It had an interesting perspective on people manipulating others for the sake of power. The process that the government used to experiment on the main character was a novel if morbid idea to maintain power—"

"Sorry for interrupting," I started. "But why don't we get Cinder to come over here? Let's just all hang out together!"

Mercury and Emerald looked at each other. Emerald shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we're not really sure about whether Cinder's interested. Our team leader has this habit of being stuck in her own thoughts and ideas whenever she's bored, so we tend to let her focus on her thing—"

"It's not a big deal with me." We all jumped as the very girl we were talking about sat down at our table. "While it's true about what they just said, I don't mind taking the time to have a chat." Amber eyes bored into mine as she took on a wide sitting stance. "It's always interesting to hear new opinions. I could use someone new to talk about, well anything really."

"Well then! I guess we won't be needing this board game!" I pushed the board game to the side. "So, how's life back at Mistral?" And with that we spent the rest of the day with Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. I remember that feeling I got when I passed them yesterday, but now that I think about it, they're not too bad. Hmm… I can't wait to face off against them at the Vytal Festival!

* * *

A sigh escaped my mouth as I slid the last sheet of paper into the done pile. And with that, all of the paperwork for today's done. That should take care of the costs of all of the amenities. The papers for allowing the Amity Colosseum into Valean space have been finished for some time. Now it's just waiting for Council approval. Maintenance for the Bullheads have been scheduled, and missions have been assigned to all Huntsmen teams not participating in the Vytal Tournament. I think I should stop for today.

With that, I glanced outside of my office window. The broken moon shined bright in contrast to the night sky. To this day nobody knows how the moon shattered into pieces ever since our beginnings, even though there are many theories on how and why. I have my theories myself, but ultimately there's no way to know for sure. What dazzles me about it is how it constantly shatters and reforms. In a way, it's a never-ending cycle of destruction and creation, reflective on how Remnans lived their lives for generations now. We destroy ourselves, we break up, we come back together, we reform and grow strong, and on and on.

Many wonder if it's possible to escape this cycle. I don't blame anyone for wanting that. No one likes the feeling of loss. It seems like an impossible feat, being able to escape the fruitlessness of destruction and embracing just the joys of creation. Many have tried doing so many times in the past. Everyone so far has failed. From the first idealist to… her, destruction has always won in the end. Even my attempts at escaping this loop resulted in failure and more destruction.

Our society is on thin ice right now. There's a tension everyone's been feeling these days, with the increasing counts of terrorism and the radicalization of several viewpoints. We've gotten complacent living in our paper house. Everyone's carrying a match, and we're all waving it at each other, forgetting that just eighty years ago that same attitude lead to disaster. Should we ever forget the past, it will come back and hit us in the face, whispering 'I told you so' before sweeping everything away from us. The cycle is starting to loop back onto itself, bringing another round of destruction.

And with the reemergence of the Arrow and the Cupid, it's like the past has come back to haunt me. I let out a soft groan, rubbing the corner of my eyes. I thought we would be safe if we just disposed of the Arrow, buried it away where no one can find it. But seeing that monster use it for the Queen… My eyes clamped shut. I can still hear its laugh, her laugh, both taunting me for as long as I live. Even after so many years… they refuse to disappear…

" _Sir?_ " That familiar presence brought me back to reality. " _Is everything okay?_ "

"Yeah," I whispered. "Just… a lot of thinking about the past."

" _You know how bad it can be to dwell on the past. You said it yourself, a man cannot move forward with confidence if he always looks behind him._ "

"I did…" I opened my eyes and picked up a pen, fiddling with the cap.

" _It might be easier if we shift topics here. What about the other users?_ "

A sigh escaped my mouth. "Belladonna and Schnee… While I haven't offered them the invitation yet, there's no doubt that they would join the other two in finding the Arrow. I've talked to Mr. Porfirio, and his answer is a resounding no. I expect a similar answer from Ms. Darcy, especially after I heard about her recent display. And you already know Mr. Alistair's position. Then there was the anonymous user who contacted us. I'm currently checking their credentials, making sure that this person is who they say they are. Then we might talk. But until then…"

" _I see. While not as big as satisfactory, four individuals might be enough. After all, that was the size of the original group._ "

"Back when we first found the Arrow." I pulled the cap off of the pen, tossing it into the air while staring at the moon. A never-ending cycle. Something that will never stop spinning. As long as we keep living, we'll suffer through this cycle. Society might've built itself to minimize the effects of the cycle, but no one has left its grasp. Overloading on either creation or destruction might help, but we have to give up so much more. I don't know if Remnans can ever escape.

I threw the cap high into the air. Maybe the cycle can't be broken. It might go on forever until the end of time. Funny then that it's easier for me to pause the cycle rather than end it. Denial only took me so far, after all. But at the same time... I can use the extra bit of time. I lifted a finger and pointed it at the falling cap. "Stop."

The pen cap froze.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = October 13, 2017**

* * *

**Nolan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 6**

It was dark out as both team BRNZ and team NDGO sat in their room, twiddling our fingers. The only exception to this was Gwen, who was suspiciously absent. NDGO refused to say a word about what happened to her.

There was a long, awkward silence between the two teams, particularly between Octavia and May. Everybody fidgeted around, waiting for… something to happen.

"Well?" I stood up and gave the redheaded girl a solid glare. "Don't you have something to say, Octavia?"

"Whoa, wait a moment," Dew started, getting up from her seat. "Nolan, you've only said a couple of words, and you're already getting out of line. She's not going to say anything if she doesn't—"

"Guess what? I don't care." I let out a sigh. "There's a lot of explaining to do, but we're not going anywhere without addressing the elephant in the room, and that has to do with this." I pulled up the image of the letter and showed it to them. "Does this look familiar to any of you?" All of team NDGO had their eyes widen at the sight. "That's what I thought. So you guys do know something about this. Let me tell it to you straight: I know who wrote the letter. And I don't want to play this game of side and seek, so why don't we just get to the point and get around to the confession?"

Nebula let out a groan. "Nolan—"

"Don't you 'Nolan' me! You guys know just as well as we do about May's attitude on this kind of stuff! As crude as what I'm going to say, you're not going to get anywhere leading her on!" I placed a hand on my hip. "We're sister teams! We shouldn't be hiding this kind of stuff between each other! You guys lied to us about several things! At least give us the truth now!"

"Nolan, shut up!" Branz grabbed me and threw me onto the bed. "Geez, stop being a handful and let them be! They got their reasons, they'll tell us when they're ready!"

"Oh? And when will that be? Tomorrow? A couple of weeks from now? Years after our graduation? I might be a prick, but I also know that this issue will come up sooner or later, and I'd rather have this issue come up now when we have nothing to lose than when our lives depend on it! You owe it that much to us!"

"Stop being so dramatic." Branz shook his head. "Geez, and doing this isn't going to split the two teams apart? And I thought I was supposed to be the overly emotional one. They're not going to tell us if we push the issue, and it's going to be awkward now that—"

"I'm in love with her."

The both of us raised our heads in surprise at the redhead. "What?" escaped out of both of our mouths.

Octavia combed through her hair, looking extremely nervous. "You're right, Nolan. I should've been more upfront about how I felt. I just didn't really know how to do it, and I put all of you guys through a lot of stuff just for my feelings." She glanced at our sniper. "But… I love you, May."

There was a pause in the room as May took Octavia's words. "... How long?"

"What?"

"How long did you know about your feelings?"

"I'm not too sure, but for some time." The redheaded girl glanced up at the ceiling. "Ever since the second week of Shade, maybe?" I blinked a couple of times. Okay, wow. That's a while. She continued: "It started small, admittedly. Little stuff like your skills, your complexion, your more casual attitude towards everything. Then it was… your eyes." Octavia grew red. "Just… something about them I loved, and then it just, happened. I tried repressing it for some time after I learned about how you didn't want to date and all that. But I guess I just couldn't take it anymore after I heard about us going to the Vytal Festival together."

I blinked. "So the time you told us that NDGO had to come later due to the flu—"

"Oh, that was just the common cold." She wove it off. "But I took the sickness as an opportunity to chicken out and not have to be with May alone. I mean, we did take the next airship right after you guys. But May, I'm really sorry about putting your team through all of this. I mean I totally understand you're not up for dating, but could we still at least stay friends? It's going to be awkward between us, but we can figure it out—"

"Well if you want, we can try the romance thing out."

"What?" Everybody turned to look at the girl in the beanie in surprise. Octavia in particular had eyes wide like a saucer. "But I thought you weren't into relationships."

"I remember clearly saying that I wasn't interested in sex with anyone. That doesn't mean I can't have a romantic relationship." May brushed a lock of hair in front of her left eye. "Besides, it's actually kind of cute what you did with the letter. If you're willing to go through all that effort, I can at least give you a chance." The redhead did nothing, just covering her mouth as her face turned red. May spread her arms out. "You want a hug?"

Octavia nodded, wrapping her arms around her crush. They kinda… look awkward, now that I think about it. The two whispered apologies to each other as they fumbled around. But still, there's something that's a bit endearing about watching the pair embrace.

The sounds of footsteps caught my attention. Was somebody running in the hallway? Moments later the door flew open, revealing a red-faced Gwen. Her breaths were ragged. "Sorry guys, there was a lot of stuff to deal with, but I managed to get out of trouble as long as— Oh!" May and Octavia broke contact with each other, staring at the newcomer with surprise. Gwen blinked a couple of times as she stared at the scene in front of her. "Wow… that was quick. I kinda didn't expect you guys to get together so quickly. But congrats guys!"

I gave the girl a wave. "Sup, Gwen?"

"Oh, and the rest of team BRNZ is here too?" She shook her head, stepping into the room before grabbing a nearby towel. "Geez, you guys are leaving me behind! Seriously, let me catch up or something!"

Dew sat up. "Gwen, what in the world happened to you? You've been gone all afternoon after we came back, and we thought that something bad happened!"

"Whew... No, nothing of the sorts. I said I would take care of the problem, right? Don't worry, I'll tell you guys later." A figure appeared behind her, touching said towel before disappearing. I blinked. Wait, what? No way. Was that… a Stand? Gwen didn't seem bothered, brushing the sweat off of her skin with no issue. And wasn't her ability to make things sticky or slippery her Semblance? Wait a moment… so she had a Stand the whole entire time? I mean, it makes a little more sense now that I think about it.

My breath hitched as Gwen plopped down right next to me. Might as well be open about what I can see right away. I leaned over to her ear. "Hey, Gwen. You have a Stand?"

The girl flinched at the word. Her eyes widened as she shot a glance in my direction. "Wha— How did you know— Can you see it?" I nodded. She pursed her lips. "You can see it? Since when?"

"Since Saturday, maybe. Did you have this the whole entire time?" She nodded. Hmm… I brought my Stand out, forcing it to sit in front of us. "I have one, too. Good thing, too. After what I've heard from others, knowing other Stand users would be helpful in defending ourselves. What's the name of your Stand?"

"... You know what? That doesn't sound like a bad idea at all." The peacock-like Stand appeared in front of us while the rest of our teams started another conversation. "It's **「** **LADY MARMALADE.** **」** And yours?"

I gave her a smile. This just made our group a lot more interesting. Maybe Gwen can teach me more things about these powers. "Gwen, meet  **「** **BELFRY FALLS.** **」** "

**=NOLAN BA END=**


	21. Kozmic Blues

After all of the things we experienced, I always thought that I will change my ways. It's one thing knowing that I have to push myself harder than anyone else to stay here in Beacon, especially with my forged transcripts. There was never a time when I wasn't playing catch up with the rest of the class. It's another thing knowing that if I don't keep up, some evil person will destroy the world as we know it. Most would do anything to make sure this didn't happen. And I thought I did too. But some things really do stay the same.

Someone nudged my shoulder just as I closed my eyes. "Hello? Jaune?"

"Whuh?" My eyes snapped back open, bringing me back to Professor Port's room. He was still droning on about another one of his exploits. I blinked my eyes. No way, I swore I was paying attention the whole entire time! Did I really…? I turned my head to look at my team. "Wait, did I fall back asleep again?"

"You were nodding off a bit," Pyrrha noted, keeping her eyes at Port's figure in front of the classroom. "But I think you were awake the whole entire time."

I let out a sigh of relief as I took a glance at the clock. "Oh, whew! Okay, well I don't have to worry about that—" My smile dropped. "Two o' seven? That can't be right… Wasn't it one-fifty a minute ago?" Pyrrha shook her head, letting out a confused sound. I bit my lip. No, there's no way. My eyes were open the entire time aside from the end! "That can't be right. I never rested my head and fell asleep! How does time pass like that? What happened?"

"You know it's possible for a person to become unaware of the world even when they aren't sleeping, right?" Ren leaned towards me. "I think there was this test where somebody flashed a light in a sleep-deprived person's face, but with their eyelids taped open. There were times when for a split-second, that person fell asleep and didn't notice that a light flashed in their faces."

I groaned, slamming my face down onto the table. You would think that I would spend more time paying attention to his classes after it saved my life way back during that search and clear mission. But after a whole entire year of sleeping in Port's class, it's hard to resist the call for more sleep. Just… how can you pay attention to a lecturer who can't tell an engaging story and teach at the same time? How does Weiss do it? She can take notes on Port just fine. Wait… now that I think about it, isn't doing notes on Port the same thing as transcribing oral stories? I rubbed my eyes, resting my head against my palm. The things I think about sometimes.

My mind wandered a bit as I stared at my professor. It's been a week since Weiss and Blake fought another Stand user at some cafe. Ever since that day, nothing really happened. We didn't run into the Cupid or the Arrow. It's like it disappeared off the face of the earth. And it's not doing anything since there weren't any new news about any Stand users since Gwen.

Speaking of which. We thought for a moment that we had something with Gwen. She was the closest thing to another lead that we had. However, the conversation we had a couple days after that incident was disappointing. She always had a Stand from the moment she was born. And with that, the trail went cold. We have no idea where the Cupid could be at this point. For all we know, the baby Grimm monster left Vale a long time ago!

I sat in silence as I waited for our last Thursday class ends. Tomorrow's a holiday, and that means that we'll have another chance to slip out and search for the Cupid. I let out a soft sigh. It's going to be harder hiding our tracks from the rest of our friends now that Blake and Weiss are with us. Somebody's going to suspect something if team RWBY goes to the city without Yang. Same thing if I'm hanging out with them without bringing the rest of team JNPR. But we need every person to help us out with finding the Cupid. The Grimm baby might not be making any new Stand users, but that doesn't mean that it's not causing havoc right now. We can't miss this opportunity.

"—But I'll end this story here because there are a couple of announcements to make." Everybody perked up after hearing that. When was the last time Professor Port decided to end a story before the bell? Did he ever do that ever this year? "A surprise, I know. I can see it on everyone's faces! But I believe that these particular announcements are more important than these post-final lessons. As you all know, Wednesday next week is the simulation we like to throw for all first year students."

That got everybody speaking. The whole room broke out into whispers about this event. The mustached professor coughed into his hand, silencing the class. "As you may have heard, we hold this after finals as a fun way to teach adaptability. And as you should know, every year the simulation is different, so anybody thinking of taking advantage of the previous years will be disappointed." Port adjusted a piece of his suit.

"Beacon only reveals the date to the students since the city announces this to all citizens anyways. Anything can happen on this day. In previous years, we've dropped teams into the city to track a certain person, placed them on a boat that they must navigate back, trapped them in a cave filled with Arachne, and so on. What I'm trying to say is that do not try to plan for this, because the simulation is never what you're going to expect."

Nora leaned in towards us as the class burst into conversation yet again. "What do you think that means, Jaune?"

"Maybe we're going to be thrown off of a plane into some kind of survival scenario, kinda like Initiation." Team JNPR leaned forwards to see Yang looking back at us, giving us a toothy smile. "That would be pretty cool to do that again."

The hyperactive redhead grinned. "Ooh, that would be cool! Or how about exploring the ruins of an abandoned city? What about escaping from a maximum security prison? Ooh! Maybe we can—

"Those all sound like things that Beacon would do," Ruby noted as she turned to face us. "But we shouldn't worry about it. Port did say that we're not going to predict it."

"Oh, I know. But thinking about it is so exciting!" Nora drummed the top of her desk. "What else… maybe—"

"Now, now. Settle down, I still have one more announcement to make." Everybody stopped. "Tomorrow's a holiday, and I'm sure that everyone is excited for it." All of the students nodded and started to cheer. The veteran Huntsmen chuckled at us. "Yes, I am excited as well for this day. However! It pains me to say that there's a real possibility that all flights to Vale will have to be restricted on that day." My eyes widened in surprise. What?

"Let me explain. The company who runs the airbuses has to ground all of their flights due to a sudden discovery of a defect in a critical part of the ship's engines. There is reasonable concern that ignoring the problem can potentially cause an airborne explosion. While the airbuses are still airworthy, the risk in safety led to the grounding of all airbuses until the part can be replaced." Port cleared his throat. "Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since we have dedicated Bullheads. However, this couldn't happen at a more unfortunate time, since we ourselves are currently doing regular maintenance on the majority of our Bullheads."

"All functional Bullheads are dedicated only for transporting current Huntsmen in the field back to Beacon should they need to evacuate. We hope to get most of the Bullheads done by the end of Friday. But for students who were planning to spend this holiday in the city or with loved ones, you will have to reschedule. I'm sorry for that." At this point the whole class exploded with conversation.

While the whole room chatted amongst each other about this series of events, I stared blankly at the whiteboard in front of the class. We're stuck in Beacon until further notice? Oh gods, this is bad. Really bad. I grabbed tufts of my hair and groaned as I slammed my head back onto the table.

"Hey Jaune, you okay there?" Nora asked.

It's not fine. We're going to be losing another day to find the Cupid. That's one more day it can turn somebody into a Stand user and cause havoc in Vale. One more day where we can't get our search back on track. Ugh, why did fate have to be so cruel right now? We needed this extra day to find anything to get back on track, and now it's gone. What are we going to do?

"Hey Jaune!" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Nora. "You had something planned for the holiday?"

"Sorta?" My mind raced to think of some kind of excuse. Did I actually react that badly to the news? I shouldn't make this a habit. What if the rest of team JNPR or Yang catches on to what's going on? "Uh… A couple of my sisters were planning to come over to Vale to look at apartments and all that, so I offered to be their tour guide to the city."

Pyrrha scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "... Aren't most of your sisters older than you? Wouldn't they have some kind of experience in Vale by now?"

"They've… mainly been to the commercial district! It's not the same as the residential district." I pointed a finger in the air. "It's like how in Mistral there's the famous gambling strip within the nearby town of Beruntung. It's the most iconic part of the town, but it's not even close to what Beruntung is actually like. Whether we see it or not, there's an actual town with people to care for. It's just that the majority of their lien comes from the legal gambling in the casinos."

My partner raised her hand to stop me. "You didn't have to explain it that much, I think I got it. Sorry for asking." Her eyes flickered to mine. "Were you close to your sisters? I mean, closer than your parents—"

"I get it. In a sense, I was." My chin rested in the palm of my hand. "I respected my parents. After all, they wanted for the best for me, even if that meant… not putting me through training. But my sisters are the ones who really raised me. It's easier to think of my sisters as actually family then mom and dad."

"And on the day you have a chance to see them, you're stuck here at Beacon." Ren let out a low sigh before patting me on the back. "I'm sorry about that."

The portly professor coughed into his hand again, getting the rest of the class' attention. "I'll dismiss class early today. On behalf of Beacon, let me say that we're sorry for this inconvenience. I hope that all of you enjoy the holiday in spite of that."

"So what now?" Nora asked as everybody started packing up and leaving. "The whole day is just… given to us."

The green-clad boy turned towards his partner. "I thought you would be more excited about this."

"I know, and I am, but there are way too many restrictions." Nora pushed herself up to her feet. "What can we do in Beacon? We've always gone to Vale on holidays!"

"Well, we could train."

"We do that every day."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Hmm… We… could go to the game room and mess around there."

Pyrrha raised her eyebrows. "Isn't that where a lot of people got hurt a week ago?"

Oh, right. That time. "… Good point. Let's not do that." My mind started to draw a blank as we left the lecture hall. Okay, wow. Now that I think about it, Beacon doesn't have a lot of places for entertainment. And now that we're stuck in the school for at least tomorrow, we've just realized just how bad it is. "Um… We could hang out with RWBY and C.M.E.N."

That got my team's attention. Nora had to swallow down a laugh. "CMEN? Is that really their team name?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with it— ooh." I slapped my face. "I can't believe that I didn't notice that before."

"What?! How did you not notice that?"

"It's not my fault! They spelled out their team name the first time I met them!" I threw my hands up in defense. "It always bothered me how they never said their full team name unlike everybody else. But then again, I wouldn't say my team name out if it was spelled like that. Speaking of which, here they are right now with team RWBY."

We all turned to face our sister team and part of CMEN. Ruby only told me about them through messaging and sent a couple of pictures of them, but I've never met the team in person until today. According to my friend, these guys are a little… eccentric. I remember Ruby stating that Cinder's team was from Mistral, yet they're always wearing a thick, heavy uniform. They just wear it… everywhere, even after classes end. In fact, the only time I see them in their normal clothes was during combat training.

Then there's their weird quirks. The mint-haired girl, her name's Emerald I think? She seems really clumsy. Like, really, really clumsy. She always seem to smack into other people whenever walking without fail. It was a little funny watching her run into everybody back during the beginning of the semester, but now it is just really concerning.

The girl with the amber eyes must be Cinder. The thing is that she has this really weird stare that comes off as intense. It's weird how she looks so calm and rational, but her eyes were a raging inferno of emotions. It's almost like she was trying to light the whole world on fire all the time.

And Mercury… well I'm pretty sure he's into feet. There was this incident Ruby saw where he would sniff his boots in his dorm. In person, he doesn't look at weird, but after what I heard… And then he has this weird obsession with maintaining his shotgun boots. Way more obsessive than Ruby. Like his life depended on it. Although… it would make sense why Ruby would be friends with them now that I think about it.

"Hey guys!" Ruby gave us a smile as she waved at the rest of us. "Finally! Isn't it great that we're on break? It just so tiring sitting in class when there's nothing important to learn."

"Yeah," I said. "But hearing about how we can't leave Beacon for Friday is a downer."

The girl nodded her head with a bit of sadness. "And we had something great planned for Friday. It was going to be the best! And now we can't go."

Cinder gave us a small smile. "Such a shame indeed. I had some plans there as well. But what can we do about it? Nothing, really. All we can do is adapt and find something else productive to do."

A thought suddenly hit me. Why don't we just use the elevator again? I mean, it was a pain in the butt having to sneak around the storage area before getting out, but Ruby, Weiss, Blake and I can use that to get to Vale. But wait a minute. How are we going to sneak back in? And how are we going to explain to everybody where we were? It'll be suspicious if us four managed to disappear when everybody should be on campus and— Yeah, nevermind. No leaving Beacon tomorrow. We just have to suck it up.

I nodded. "That's true. I'm pretty sure we can find something else to do tomorrow. But enough about that. What are you guys doing?"

"Just getting a late lunch," Ruby responded. "I had a long training session with team RWBY, and we all forgot about eating. Team C.M.E.N. also didn't have lunch, so they're coming with us. What about you?"

"Yeah, we already ate. Anyways, we'll be going back to the dorms and spending some time together as a team." I jabbed my thumb towards the direction of the residential building. "I guess we'll see you guys later?"

Ruby nodded. "Alright! Goodbye guys!" With that, we went our separate ways.

"... Well, team CMEN were… okay," Pyrrha stated after a short silence. "They don't seem like bad people. That Mercury guy was a decent opponent when I fought him. I'm pretty sure he could keep up with me if he didn't quit early."

Nora shrugged. "Eh, they seem nice enough. Although it's kinda weird how there's only three members on their team. We've never seen their last person ever! Like, what do you think happened with their fourth member? Do you think that they had to go into hiding? Or maybe they're on a long pilgrimage to discover their true inner self. Or maybe—"

"— Or maybe their last member just likes staying in their dorm." Ren shrugged his shoulders. "Not everybody is a social person, after all."

"That's true." The hyperactive redhead bobbed her head back and forth. "But why? Maybe they have their face disfigured by an experiment gone wrong. Or what if—"

"Oh my gods!" Everybody turned their head towards Pyrrha. "I almost forgot! My agent talked to me about how there was supposed to be an interview so I can renegotiate my current contract, and it was supposed to be set tomorrow in the city!" She faced the rest of us. "I'm sorry everyone, but I have to get to the CCT and get the date changed. It would be terrible for my family's financial situation if I didn't get this done."

"We don't mind." I waved her off. "Go ahead and do what you need to do. We'll all understand if something like this is important."

She gave us a quick nod. "Thank you."

* * *

Cinder gave me a glance as we made our way to the cafeteria. The rest of my team were sharing a conversation with the rest of Cinder's teammates. "Ruby." I looked up at her. "So why did you need to go to Vale? You didn't mention anything about needing anything until after the Vytal Festival."

"Oh yeah, that." I waved off her concern. "My team doesn't need anything. But that doesn't mean I couldn't go window shopping. Plus, I'm looking for something… important."

"Like something for your weapon?"

"More like something that I need to… collect." I adjusted the straps on my cape as we continued walking. "As a weapons enthusiast, there's sometimes some stuff that you see and you think: 'I want it.' Even if it has nothing to do with Crescent Rose. Which by the way, she really needs a new paint job before I can say I've fully repaired my weapon. Everything's already done, and she's already functional, but it's disturbing to see the exposed dark gunmetal stick out from the red paint I normally use. I want her to look good when we fight. You get me?"

"No, no I don't," the woman chuckled as she shook her head. "I've never been a big fan of metallic weapons. I only fight with my fists, remember?"

"That's true. I still don't understand why you don't use gauntlets like Yang." I gave off a pout. "I mean, you could have a ton of range if you had a gun on you. Why stay limited to close range that way?"

"I like to think of it as… specialization." The leader of CMEN nodded her head. "While yes, I don't have a lot of range, I make up for it by being a heavy hitter. And if I ever needed range, I would either have Emerald and Mercury take care of it or just unravel the wrapping around my hands. And it's not like I'm powerless. Dust woven into clothing is a lot more valuable than you think it is."

"Hmm… you have a point there." I rubbed the back of my neck. "But what about the times when you have to fight alone? If your teammates are distracted by something, or you're on a solo mission? What would happen then?"

"I'll just ramp up my… Semblance and fight that way. The thing is, I don't lose control of a situation. There's a ton of backup plans up my sleeve, ready to be used at any time. You learn to hide whatever power you actually have, and let your enemies believe whatever you present to them. If anything, it's the enemies that should always be surprised, never you."

"Gods, you're saying that like you're prepared to fight Remnans and not Grimm." I let out a laugh.

"Well in a sense, wouldn't Huntsmen have to fight other Remnans eventually?" Cinder's smile dropped. "Think about it. Huntsmen have an extreme amount of power, since not only do they have Aura on their side, but they also have combat training, practice with their Semblance, and weapons that can shift forms at will. Armies can only do so much against a Huntsmen. Who wouldn't want that kind of power backing them up? And do note that we have combat training against Remnans as well. People like us will fight against something, whether it's the Grimm or other people."

"But we also have the ability to choose jobs for themselves," I countered. "We can think for ourselves, we have morals, we all believe that the survival of the Kingdoms is more important than anything else. Even a greedy Huntsmen understands that they need other Remnans to spend that money. But many more Huntsmen have valid reasons to protect everyone against the Grimm."

"I don't disagree. But my point is that within our society, Huntsmen are powerful tools. If Grimm didn't exist, then Huntsmen would be used not for everyone, but for the selfish. Then there are those who split away from the Kingdoms due to conflict. There will be opponents smarter than just the Grimm. I'm just taking on a policy that recognizes this fact."

"Alright, fine. Believe whatever you want to believe." I raised my hand up to my chin. "Changing subjects, why did you want to do to the city?"

"… There's a group I meet up with on those days. We like to talk about the issues plaguing Remnant and how we could change the world to make it a better place. How to make it a fairer place for others. How to stop conflict once and for all. You can say this group is fairly powerful, but they don't truly have an influence in the city yet. I'm helping them out in a sense, partly because they share a similar belief as me. Even if it's focused on another group?"

"And the other part?" I asked.

"I'm trying to find somebody. Someone important, someone who can give me a chance at gaining the power needed to make the world fair for others. Someone who could give me the power to give Remnant justice."

I raised my eyebrows at that. "Justice?"

She nodded her head. "Let me ask a question. Do you believe in destiny?" I shook my head. "This idea that from the moment you're born, you have a life completely planned out for you. I've never thought I would amount to anything until I've met that person. What they've said about changing society, how justice will be given to everyone and everything… I believe it is fate that I would bring justice to everyone. A chance at a new world where no one has to suffer, or struggle, or fight, but a chance of living without conflict. I think this is the role given to me."

"Hmm… the person you've talked to must be wise or brilliant. It seems like a noble goal. But how does that help us win against the Grimm?" I let out a confused hum. "You focus a lot on Remnans. But Grimm are the reason why we're in a situation like this. Why would you think that our troubles will be over once justice is brought to this world?"

Cinder narrowed her eyebrows. "Well—"

"If you guys are done talking about stupid philosophy," Mercury interrupted, slamming his hands down onto my shoulders. I yelped as I struggled in his grasp. "Let's eat some food already. I don't want to go dumpster diving for food."

"You're saying that like it wasn't the first time you had to do that," Emerald called out.

"Shut up, Emi."

"Well, let's just end the conversation here for now." Cinder smiled again as she opened the glass door. "It was… interesting having this talk."

I nodded as everybody else walked into the building. Cinder's words have some backing to it. The Kingdoms aren't the best of societies. It would make sense to try and change it for the better. But a world without conflict… I wonder what that would be like. A world where we didn't have to worry about fighting ever again… Whoever convinced Cinder of this is ambitious. It's an interesting dream for someone to have.

* * *

With a whir of a motor, the lock snapped open, allowing team JNPR and I to walk into our dorms. I let out a long yawn as I flopped onto the bed. Maybe I should just go to sleep right now. Yeah, my uniform's going to be wrinkly when I get up, but who's going to care? It's the holiday starting tomorrow!

"Ahh! Home sweet home!" JNPR's hyperactive redhead bounded into the room. With another eased sigh Nora untied the ribbon around her neck and tossed it onto her desk. "Finally, a chance to get out of these stuffy clothes and put on my comfy pajamas! You guys don't mind if I take the bathroom first and change out, right?"

"Go ahead." I waved her off. With that I glanced up at the ceiling. Okay, so we're going to be losing Friday to the broken airships. Nobody has an idea if we're going to lose any part of the weekend as well. I sighed. We could really use more time to get this done. But next week's the simulation, the week after that's the Vytal Festival Tournament, then after that is summer break. If we can't find the Cupid by then, we might not be together to continue finding it. Ruby and Yang might go back to Patch, Weiss might go back to Atlas. Well, maybe Blake might still be in the city.

But then again, what can Blake and I do with just the two of us? We're going to basically let the Cupid run amok throughout the entire summer if we can't find it right now. And that means the chance something goes wrong will skyrocket! It's going to be a complete mess that we're going to have to deal with when we get back. No, if we want to make sure that everything's going to be fine, we have to get the Arrow within the next two weeks!

"And I'm back!" Nora burst through the bathroom doors in her usual sleepwear of t-shirt and shorts. With a pleased sigh, she leaped onto her bed. "So, what did you guys talk about while I was changing?"

"What?" I asked, sitting up as I glanced at Ren. He returned a shrug to me. "We didn't say a single thing to each other."

The girl tapped the side of her cheek for a moment before nodding. "Well, okay. Nothing's a pretty good starting point. That means we can talk about anything we want! Like… why don't we have a pancake day?"

"Nora." Ren sighed. "I always make pancakes for you in the morning. You had my pancakes this morning."

"Nono, that's not what I meant. I mean, why don't we as a team make pancakes together?" She threw her hands up, a manic grin starting to crawl up her face. "It makes so much sense! We're not going to go anywhere, so why don't we do something that doesn't involve having to leave our rooms? It's going to be the perfect day! In fact, I think it's about time we tried to attempt the largest pancake stack ever known to Remnant!"

"Wait, what? The biggest— How big is the largest pancake stack ever?" I pulled out my scroll and started typing stuff in. "I mean, we've already seen some big—" My eyes widened at the search results. "Oh gods, one hundred and two centimeters? That's huge!"

"Yup," the girl nodded. "A perfect pancake tower, stacked the size of a small child. I mean, I've made pancake mounds close to this size, but those are just lazily stacked piles. No, I want to create perfection. It'll be the equivalent to the Amity Colosseum in terms of how impressive it's going to be!" A bit of drool started falling out of her mouth. "I want to break this world record. And eat the world record too, while I'm at that."

I let my mouth open and close as I stared at the redhead in disbelief. "... Do we even have that much pancake batter to make something like that?"

"Of course we do! Ren had a giant stash of his secret recipe dry mix right under my bed! It's huge, like it's basically the size of the mattress I sleep on! Here, I'll show it to you right now!" She threw herself off of her bed and started digging underneath. "Okay, where is it… Let's see. Magazines of the X-Ray vs. Vav arc. I don't know, it wasn't really good. The two really shouldn't be fighting after being such good friends and all that. Whatever! Continuing on! Discarded boxes of chocolate eggs. Pyrrha's highlighter. Oh, so that's where it went! Yeah, I should clean up underneath my— There it is!"

"Ren, how did you ever manage to get all of the pancake mix if it's so messy down there?" I whispered.

"The thing is, I don't." His eyes flickered to his childhood friend digging underneath her mattress. He leaned into my ear. "Don't tell Nora this, but I just make a new batch every time before she wakes up. In fact, I'm not sure if we can still eat the one underneath her bed. I can't get to it for ages. I'm pretty sure it's all moldy by now. Granted, I have it sealed in an airtight container, but who knows?"

"Okay!" Our attention went back to Nora, who had her head firmly underneath the bed. "I can't reach our container of pancake mix, so I'm going to throw everything I have out until I can reach it! Heads up! Magazines!" We ducked out of the way as the books flew at our faces. "Boxes! Hmm… I'll just pocket the highlighter. Dud grenade round!" She tossed the discarded ammunition towards the closet space for the two girls.

"Wait a minute," I started. "Did you say dud?"

She didn't get the chance to answer my question when the whole room exploded. Everybody let out a yelp as the shockwave knocked us all off of our feet. The explosion sent me flying into a wall, which knocked the air off of me. A cough escaped my mouth as pink smoke filled the room. Ah! Air! I need air! My hand fumbled around the wall. Where's the window? It has to be— I felt something cold and smooth. There!

I yanked the window open, sending a rush of fresh air into the room. I coughed a couple more times as I waved the air around me. "Ren! Nora! Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine!" Ren stumbled towards the window with his mouth covered by his sleeve, Nora following closely behind. Their breaths were shallow from the smoke around us. "But what about you? I saw you get hit by the explosion."

"My Aura took most of the blow, don't worry about that." I felt a sweatdrop run down my face. That was close. And to think I was planning on using my Stand to help her out right before she threw that grenade. I would've been blown to shreds! "But Nora, why did you have a grenade under your bed?! If that destroyed one of the walls or even the floor—"

"I'm sorry!" The girl had her hands held close to her mouth. "It didn't work when I tried to fire it, so I thought that it was safe enough for me to keep inside the room until I can exchange it at the store! I didn't expect it to explode right now!"

"Nora." The boy in green grabbed her shoulders. "Any kind of ammunition is dangerous, no matter when it's used. You should've at least removed the Dust propellant so that it couldn't fire at all."

"Yeah, that's true…" Nora let out a long sigh as she looked into the room. "Well, at least the only thing that was destroyed was a closet door. I don't think I keep anything important there except for clothes." She squinted her eyes as the pink smoke cleared up. "Wait a minute… isn't my closet on the left hand side? Why hasn't it—" She slapped her cheeks as the realization struck her. "Oh no! I just blew up Pyrrha's closet!"

The rest of us looked up. Sure enough, I managed to catch a piece of red cloth hanging from a broken half of the closet door. Several outfits lay all over the floor, either ripped or stained with soot from the explosion. I recognize the dress that Pyrrha wore to the dance, its shiny red color dirtied by the debris from the explosion.

"Oh gods," I muttered under my breath. "This isn't good."

"What am I going to do?" The girl started fretting, running towards the shattered remains of the closet. "Oh gods, what if she kept some important stuff in here? What if I destroyed something important to her? Would she forgive me? Guys, tell me she's not going to panic over this! I don't know—"

"Nora, you have to calm down." I leaned down and started picking at the closet door. "I don't think she'll keep something important to her in a closet. Besides, even if she did, she's the forgiving type, remember?"

Ren stepped in. "That's right. Besides, Pyrrha will understand that this was an accident. You didn't know that the grenade was still live and you didn't intentionally throw the grenade to destroy the closet. I'm sure that Pyrrha can pick that up quickly and forgive you."

I nodded, giving one of the shards of wood a tug. The door came down just like that, revealing the clothes still hanging from the closet rack and something rectangular on the bottom. I raised my eyebrows. What's that on the bottom? I dug through a bit of the debris, cleaning up the pile to reveal what was hidden underneath.

Sitting on the floor was a little box with electric candles sitting on it. In the center was a faded picture of a pale white dog. I'm not too sure what the breed is, but it's distinctly Mistralian. The little dog had a brown stripe across the center of their back. This pattern was reversed for its head, being predominantly brown with a white stripe down its face. The fuzzy looking animal had its tongue out while it was being hugged by a much younger Pyrrha, maybe five or so? The two looked happy together. There was a little name tag underneath the picture with a name: _My Sweet Luna._

A wood splinter shattered the center of the box. There were some tears in the photo, fairly recent as well. It's most likely due to the explosion. But there was a bulge where the wood splinter was. I felt my breath hitch. Is there anything under this that could potentially…? I snatched the splinter and lifted it up. Underneath was what looked like a tiny pacemaker. The lead was smashed, with sparks escaping from the circuitry. The casing was all messed up, with dents all over the machine. The only thing still intact is the wiring connected to the lead.

I heard some gasps from behind me. "What is this?" Nora whispered. "Why is there a picture of a dog between some candles?"

"Don't pry any further." I turned around and faced the rest of my team. "It's something very… private. I'm not going to say anything about it." I stepped away and pulled out my scroll.  _Hey Pyrrha,_ I wrote.  _How far are you right now?_

_Not that far,_  she responded.  _I had to do the negotiations right there. It's really stressful having to talk to businessmen about being a champion. Are you guys doing something right now?_

I glanced up. Nora was kneeled at the shrine, staring at it in disbelief. Ren was running a hand down her arm, trying to comfort her. Pyrrha can't see this. It'll crush her. I started typing,  _We're not in the room right now. JNPR's currently going to—_

Before I could finish my message, I heard the door pop open, followed by Pyrrha walking in. She gave us a half-hearted smile. "Hello everybody! Jaune was just texting me about—" Her eyes widened at the sight of the closet. Her jaw dropped as she stood there in silence. Seconds stretched into minutes as nothing happened.

Nora got up, lacing her hands together in a plea. "Pyrrha, please. You have to understand, I didn't mean to do this—" She couldn't finish her sentence however, as Pyrrha shoved her to the side as she made her way towards the broken closet. My partner's movements were almost robotic as she leaned down and picked up the ruined pacemaker. The hyperactive girl had a frown grace her face. "Are— are you okay?"

"Nora. I'll only say this one time." Pyrrha's voice was stilted, filled with sorrow and… anger? "Get out."

"Look, I can explain everything—"

The hyperactive redhead couldn't finish her words as she grunted in pain, stumbling back. What the— I turned to see Nora crumbling, sparks flying into her body. The pacemaker had struck her in the chest, electrocuting her. Granted, her Semblance meant that nothing will actually happen, but the blow still shocked everyone nevertheless. My head flew back towards Pyrrha, who had her hand out. The pacemaker flew back into her hand.

"Go. I don't want you here. I don't want to hear anything from you. It doesn't matter." Pyrrha stopped to take a couple of breaths. Almost as if she was trying to calm herself down. "I don't want to see you. Not while I'm cleaning up your mess. Just—" She swallowed back a choke as she sat down at the shrine. "Just go away, Nora."

Nora didn't respond, making a choking sound instead. A sigh escaped my mouth. What's with these past few days and making Nora cry? I glanced at Ren, who nodded before taking his partner's hand. "Come on, Nora. Pyrrha just needs some space. Jaune will calm her down, right?" I nodded. "See? Let's go get some food for everybody else, alright?" With that, they left.

As for me, I walked over to my partner and sat next to her. "Look, Pyrrha—"

"Jaune." She didn't spare a glance at me. "Could you not say anything for awhile? It's really hard not to… lash out at everyone."

I nodded, scooting a bit. Together we sat in the wreckage in silence, staring at the picture of the dog.

A long time passed before Pyrrha spoke again. "I remember the day I got Luna." She cradled her chin within her hands. "It was an a fully formed moon. I was celebrating my fifth birthday with my mom and dad at night, back in the little house we called home before I became famous. Before, I always wished for some kind of friend to play with. It's hard being an only child. So, right after I blew out my candles, my dad pulled out this box with holes on the side of it. And when I opened it, there sat a little kokoni puppy, looking up me with the widest smile I've ever seen."

From the corner of my eye, I noticed my partner made a small smile. "Soon after that, I started training to compete in championships. Mainly because I wanted to be like the champions in the news. Luna quickly became my first and only friend for a long time. There were times when I wanted to stop training, to quit. But every day after practice, Luna would bound over to me and cuddle. She was a wonderful dog."

"That sounds great," I sighed. "I wished I had a dog like that. But that also means that Luna… isn't with you anymore, right?"

She nodded. "The problem started when I was around twelve. Luna would be less quick to bound over to me, she would get tired quicker. We took her to the doctors. She had bradycardia, where the heart is beating slower than normal. The veterinarian fitted Luna with a pacemaker, and she was fine for awhile. Skip two years later, and I fought the finals match that would make me a champion. A week prior I had just found my Semblance, and I was training nonstop so that I could use it in battle."

Pyrrha swallowed. "I won the tournament fight, but then soon after, we had to rush Luna to the vet, where we learned that the pacemaker was failing due to some strong magnetic field. She—" My partner held back a sob. "Luna didn't make it. And— and I was the problem. I was using my Semblance around her all the time during that week. I was the reason that my friend—" A tear fell close to the broken pacemaker. "I did this to her."

I wrapped one arm around her shoulder, pulling her head close to my chest. "Easy, Pyrrha. You didn't know. Plus, you have the rest of us now, right? It's going to be okay. We can move on from this."

"But Jaune," she whispered. "I— I don't know, but I just can't find myself forgiving Nora for what she's done. This here." Pyrrha brought the pacemaker close to her heart. "This is the only reminder I have left of Luna aside from the pictures. There's nothing else. My family sold the rest of Luna's stuff. I can try to fix it, but it just wouldn't be the same. I shouldn't be angry at Nora, but after all this." She stopped for a moment, trying to recollect her thoughts. "There's no way to explain it, but I don't want to see Nora for awhile. That's just the best way to explain it."

A sigh escaped my mouth as I held her in my hands, pulling out my scroll and messaging Ren.  _How's Nora?_

_Crushed. She's hurt about Pyrrha hitting her like that. I think it's best if we stay out of Pyrrha's way._

Hmm… how are we going to do that? There's no way to go.  _I don't think so. We're most likely going to run into each other tomorrow since we're stuck in Beacon. Maybe we'll try and talk this out early in the morning, when everyone's calmer. You have a room?_

Ren responded quickly.  _I'm planning on bringing Nora to team RWBY. They'll take us in for now. We'll meet at the fountain tomorrow, 8:00?_

_Alright. I'll see you then._ I snapped my scroll closed and continued embracing my partner. I can feel her shake as she pressed her face into my shoulder. It didn't matter to me that I can feel my shoulder getting wet. This is what Pyrrha needs now. Tomorrow isn't going to be pretty, but we have to fix this problem. I just hope that everything works out.

* * *

Hours passed quickly as the two of us fell asleep. The first thing that caught my attention was the buzzing against the side of my leg. Pyrrha stirred next to me, but otherwise remained asleep. I yawned as I dug my scroll out from my back pocket. What time is it?  _11:32. 8 NEW NOTIFICATIONS,_ my scroll read. My eyes widened at the sight. Oh my—

"Pyrrha, wake up!" The girl yelped as she shot up from my grip. I brushed myself off as I scanned through the texts.  _11:31. Where are you right now?_

_Woke up late. Heading over right now._ I placed my scroll away as I stretched. Man, sleeping on the floor is really uncomfortable. How do people do it?

"Jaune? What's going on? Why were we sleeping on the floor?" Pyrrha's face flushed. "Why were we sleeping together? What are you doing right now?"

"I guess we dozed off or something," I replied, taking a quick glance at myself. Okay, I'm still in yesterday's uniform. Am I going to be fine? I took a quick sniff. Yeah, I can do without the shower. "But that's not the point. We're going to go out, get something to eat, and try to talk this out with Ren and Nora."

Her eyes widened. "What? No, I can't do that! What if something goes wrong? What if she doesn't want to forgive me? What if I don't want to forgive her?"

"You're sounding like Nora right now, you know." But she's right. What if something does go wrong? I should have my rocket locker at the ready just in case this gets violent. I looked up. "Come on, you gotta have more trust in yourself and be more open to talking it out with Nora. All of this is a big misunderstanding on both sides. If we can clear up all of this confusion, then everything should be fine! Plus, Ren and I will be there. We won't let anything go wrong even if something does happen."

"Well, if you say it like that…" Pyrrha let out a long hum. "Maybe I should give it a chance. I'll try to talk it out with her."

"Alright then!" I grabbed her wrist. "Then I think it's about time we had this conversation." Before she could say a word, I tugged her out of our dorm and towards the rest of our team.

Beacon was booming with a ton of activity as Pyrrha and I were walking towards the fountain. There were a ton of people walking around, a lot more than usual. Several large groups talked amongst each other, doing bits of fun activities such as street dancing, music performances and all that. Hell, I think I see a red-headed cat faunus do a performance similar to ice skating with a man playing jazz to complement her. It felt like going to a mini-festival of sorts. I guess everyone decided that staying cramped up in the dorms wasn't how they were going to spend their holiday off.

One thing that caught my attention in particular was the stage set next to the statue of Beacon. It looks to be some kind of talent show, looking at the people on the stage as well as the students standing on the side. A ton of random props were scattered around next to that line. My eyebrows flew up as I looked at the participants. Oh, huh. Team SSSN and CRDL are performing in a talent show? I didn't think Cardin was that kind of person. It would be fun to see what they will do if it wasn't for the fact that we're already late to this appointment.

As we made our way towards the fountain, Pyrrha started getting more fretful, turning paler the closer we got to the fountain. "Jaune, can we just do this another day? It's not going to be right if we do it right now, when everybody's trying to salvage their Friday." When I didn't respond, she continued on: "Plus, I think Nora's going to need a bit more time to herself before we can actually have this talk." I kept my mouth shut. Now she really looked scared. "Please Jaune, I don't know what to do, I don't think I can do this!"

"Pyrrha, it's not as hard as you're making it out to be." I brought my mouth up to a smile. "It's like what you said to me about Luna. Tell her about your dog, how important she was to you, and that you want to hear her side of the story. Again, don't worry about it Pyrrha. It's going to be fine."

"Right. Fine. It'll be alright." We passed under the arch leading to the fountain. There were a couple of students hanging around the area. The sun was high in the sky, basking everything in the area with its warm glow. And sitting on the edge of the fountain itself were Ren and Nora having a talk with each other.

I felt Pyrrha tense in my grasp. Nora tensed up as well the second she looked in our direction. And with that, we stood silently as the two girls stared down each other.

"Well?" I gestured over to the hyperactive girl. "Don't you have something to say to Nora, Pyrrha?"

My partner nodded as she started walking towards her teammate. "Uh, hello." Nora glanced away, crossing her arms in a huff. "Nora, I know what happened yesterday was an absolute mess. I wasn't thinking straight. If you can give me a chance, I can explain everything."

"Oh really? Just like how you gave me the chance to speak back in the room? How you hit me using that little doo-dad your dog had on?" Everybody reeled back at the sharp words.

"What the— Nora!" Ren shook his head. "I thought you were going to be calmer! You have to at least give Pyrrha the chance to say something!"

"... Sorry, Ren. I guess I'm still a little hurt from what happened." She rubbed her eyes. "Go ahead, Pyrrha."

The champion nodded. "Alright. I know I was angry about what happened to my dog's pacemaker. And I also know that I was completely out of line with what I did. I wasn't thinking clearly. But please understand, this is something really personal to me." Team JNPR stood there in silence as Pyrrha poured her heart into her story, spinning her tale about her dog, how much it meant to her, why she acted the way she did."

Nora stirred as Pyrrha ended her story. "That's it?"

My partner flinched at Nora's response. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean that you overreacted to the destruction of your shrine to your dog, slamming a broken pacemaker into my chest, and causing me a lot of pain… all because you were a lonely girl?" My eyebrow flew up at her words. What is Nora saying? This isn't like her at all. She's a lot more forgiving than that. Why's she's being so… dismissive now? The hyperactive girl brushed herself off as she stood up. "Because that's really childish. Oh, boo hoo, your dog died. How about losing parents that you can't even remember? I'm still standing tall even after losing my family a long time ago, and you crumble the second somebody mentions a dead dog."

Pyrrha let out a growl. "Nora, that's an insensitive thing to say. I'm just trying to explain my side of the—"

She couldn't finish her sentence as Nora slapped her in the face. I felt my jaw drop at the sight. What in the world is Nora doing? Pyrrha brought one of her hands to her cheek, mouth open in shock. Nora shot her teammate a glare. "Listen up, Pyrrha. Things happen that's out of your control. Deal with it. I didn't think that the grenade would explode when I threw it. It's completely out of my control. But what can you control is yourself. So get over yourself already!" I kept my mouth shut. I don't think mentioning her hypocrisy was going to end well.

My partner stayed silent for a moment, just staring at the other redhead in shock. "You slapped me."

"Yeah, and so what if I did?" Nora shrugged her shoulders. "Don't be so self-centered, Pyrrha. You've explained your side of the story, I've explained mine." She let out a scoff when Pyrrha didn't respond. "What, did the truth hurt? How bad do you feel now that you realized how much you hurt me?"

"Nora!" Ren ran his fingers through his air, letting out a groan of agitation. "You didn't have to hit Pyrrha to make your point!"

"Shut up Ren, I'm not done!" The girl turned back towards my partner. "Are you angry? Because you look pretty angry right now. Of course you wouldn't get it, you're too self-centered to care about others." She held her arms up, beckoning Pyrrha to her. "Hit me. I dare you."

"Look Nora, you're taking this way too far." I started towards the two girls as I realized the situation. "It's not a good idea to goad her—"

Before I could even blink, Pyrrha whipped her fist, bashing Nora right in the nose. A gasp escaped from the pancake lover's mouth as she staggered back. If it was anybody without an Aura, she would be bleeding from the nose. However, I'm pretty sure the blow still hurt pretty bad. Nora growled as she stomped over to my partner. "You—"

"Intervention!" I grabbed Pyrrha by the waist, pulling her back before she threw another punch at Nora. Ren likewise hooked his arms under Nora's armpits and yanked her back. "Pyrrha, calm down!"

"No! I had it! I'm not going to hold back anymore!" A yelp escaped my mouth as she started dragging me across the ground. "I'm going to go over there and beat Nora's head in!"

"Well, maybe you should try not beating your friend's head in?" I bit my lip as I brought my Stand out. "We can still try to talk this out, you know."

"We gave up talking the moment she slapped me!" Pyrrha started struggling as I lowered her density, making it harder for her to pull me. "Now I'm going to show her a piece of my mind!"

"Ren!" I yelled at the other boy. "Get Nora to calm down!"

"Don't listen to him, Ren!" Nora responded. "Pyrrha sucker punched me! Just let me go and I'll break her legs!"

"I know. That's why I'm doing this." He released Nora from his grasp.

"What the— Ren!" I shook my head. "What are you doing?"

"Jaune, Pyrrha made Nora cry and punched her in the face. If there's one thing that makes me furious, it's messing with Nora. I would let that stand." With a yell, the two of them charged us.

"Aw, come on!  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY!** **」** " I pushed Pyrrha to the side. A cry escaped her mouth as she bounced far away from the fountain. Moments later I ducked, dodging a punch thrown by Ren. One smack to the back of his hand increased his density tenfold, causing him to collapse to the ground with a yelp.

"Renny!" Nora threw me an evil eye as she balled her fists up. "Jaune, stay out of the way! This is between me and Pyrrha!"

I shook my head. "I can't let you do that, Nora. We're teammates! We're not going to fight each other!"

"No!" She started bounding towards me, arms raised and ready to fight. "I'll fight you too!" I retreated a couple of steps back, hands out as I waited for the right opportunity to counter. Okay Jaune. Nora's an up close fighter, so one hit from her's going to really mess up your day. However, she's just like everybody else. I just have to touch her once to stop her in her tracks.

The last girl standing roared as she swung a fist at me. Slow and sloppy. It's actually what I expected for someone who only trained with a weapon. I stepped into her range, allowing her fist to skim my face as I shoved her to the ground. Nora fell like a rock, collapsing with a thud. Almost instantly she struggled to get back up, but no matter what she tried, she's couldn't lift her finger an inch off of the ground. Not a second later Pyrrha slammed a fist into my face. I staggered back, letting out a wet cough.

"Ow, Pyrrha! What the hell!" I rubbed my cheek. "Why did you hit me?"

"Do I even need a reason?" My partner raised both of her fists up in something that reminded me of a boxer's stance.

"Yes! Yes you do! Because I don't know what I did that made you so—" She charged me. "Oh gods!" I sidestepped again, allowing her to past me. Before she could react, I slid my fingers down her back. She toppled and fell to the ground in an instant, bound to the floor like the rest of JNPR.

I took a couple of deep breaths, wiping my brow as I looked my teammates. What the hell's going on? Why's everyone so angry at each other? Everything was more or less fine yesterday. What could've happened that would make everybody so angry at each other? It doesn't add up somehow. There's got to be a good reason why—

A bottle smashed into my back, sending glass shards deep into my skin. A gasp escaped my mouth. What the— Who hit me? I turned around to see a random student with a broken glass bottle in his hand. "Dude, what gives? I was clearly defending myself— Oh, that's not good." Now that I bothered looking, it was utter chaos around me. Everyone was just wailing on each other, no holds barred. It's like a battle royale, where everybody was using anything they could get their hands on to beat up their friends.

My mouth went dry as I stared at the student with the broken glass bottle. "I don't know," the boy rumbled. "All I know is that I feel so, so angry! So angry that I need to just… let it all out." He stared at me. "I wonder how you will look when you're covered in your own blood?" A shiver went down my spine as I heard those menacing words. With that he brandished his weapon and stepped towards me, his eyes revealing nothing but murder.

**_⇐TO BE CONTINUED=_ October 27, 2017**


	22. Feel Good Inc. - Part 1

A weak whimper escaped my mouth as the sounds of carnage roared around me. I can feel my gut wrench, my mind racing to process all of this information. Something's off here. Why would everybody be fighting like this? It makes no sense at all. It would've been a little plausible if it was just my team, maybe even a couple more people. But everybody in the plaza? How is it possible that everybody happened to be angry at the same time? My eyes narrowed. This must be the work of an enemy Stand. But who could be causing this?

My breath hitched as the bloodthirsty boy took a couple of test swings with the broken glass bottle in his hand. I can't exactly worry about who that is right now. Right now, I have to make sure that my team and I don't die to the berserkers around us. And that means figuring out how this enemy Stand works.

I took a couple of steps back, glancing at the crowd at the same time. Okay, so nobody's bleeding. Their Aura's still intact. So does this ability only affect emotion? But if that's the case, why am I not affected? Is it due to the fact that I'm a Stand user, or is there another factor that I'm not considering? This person's range is long enough to encompass at least the plaza, and that's from what I can see. Just what is the extent of this person's powers?

But before worrying about all that, I need to heal up. I recalled my Stand and winced as the glass shards in my back started sliding back out, my Aura reconnecting my muscles back together. A shivering wave of pain caused my body to jitter. Ugh, I can't get used to this. It always just feels wrong. But with that out of the way, I focused my attention on my opponent. How am I going to get out of here alive? Let's start with the guy immediately attacking me. The guy has an improvised weapon in his hands which could really mess me up if I had my Stand out. But aside from that, he doesn't have any immediate way to hurt me.

What options do I have… Hmm… I should call my rocket locker and get Crocea Mors. That should allow me to fend off these guys long enough to find the user. But then again, it's going to take a while until my weapons reach me. How long can I stall this guy until I can get my sword and shield? I inspected him. The guy looks bulkier than me, but he's not Cardin-sized. I might be able to wrestle him down if he wasn't trying to kill me.

He let out a roar, charging me and breaking me out of my thoughts. I jumped back, slipping past a wide swing in my direction. Huh. His movements are slow and easy to read. And I think he's just fighting impulsively. I can handle this. In fact, this should be easy enough that if he doesn't have any kind of backup at all, I won't need to worry. Everybody else was focused on fighting their own battles when I looked over his shoulder. I stuffed one of my hands into my pocket and hit the emergency button. Yeah, just stall until I can get Crocea Mors. That's my best choice.

The boy in front of me gave me a big grin as he leered at me. A bit of drool started dripping out of his mouth as he started going into a maniacal laugh. What the— What's going on? I brought my hands up to my chest. Why is he laughing like that? It's sorta unnerving watching the guy just… laugh like that. But—

A cry escaped his mouth, sending a bit of saliva into the air as he charged me again, his weapon high above his head. My eyes widened as he brought the broken bottle down towards my face. Oh gods— I took a couple steps into his arm span, smacking his weapon to the side so that it instead skimmed my arm. My Aura flared for just a moment before fading in favor of  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY.** **」** I balled my other hand and let my Stand increase its density. The guy's smile dropped into a furious frown.

With a grunt I slammed my fist straight into the guy's gut, causing him to cough and wheeze as he stumbled past me. Pain shot through my arm moments later, causing me to grasp it while letting out a groan. I know that I'm not Yang, but ow! How in the world does she punch so hard without breaking her hand? Agh, geez. I waved my arm around.

From the corner of my eye, I can make the gray streak of the rocket smoke cut through the blue sky. That's good. Only a couple more minutes before I can get my weapon and stop him quickly. I forgot that the rocket lockers are right here. Of course they're going to be here sooner than I thought. I shook my head. But that doesn't matter right now. I just got to make sure that neither JNPR or any of the students decide that I should die.

But it wasn't too long until I heard the incoming roar of the student. I sidestepped, again avoiding the student's attempt in ramming the jagged bottle into my back. How did he recover so quickly? I made sure that I knocked the air out of his lungs! Even with Aura, he should still be recovering for a couple more seconds, but he's up like nothing ever happened! I brought my fists up like how Yang normally holds her arms whenever she boxes. Oh man, I really should've gotten more training in this kind of stuff. It would be really useful to have right now.

A growl escaped from his mouth as he twisted on the balls of his feet, this time making a wide arc towards my face. It should be fairly easy to dodge. Not too much of a big deal. As I started leaning to the side to dodge, the boy suddenly shifted his weight, throwing his free arm into my chest instead. I felt myself wheeze, my ribs snapping as his punch sent me careening towards the side of the arch. Oof… A cough escaped my mouth as I curled up into a ball. Ow…

I recalled the Stand back and glanced up. The angry student was making his way towards me, his maniacal grin growing even bigger. Gotta… get up. I started to push myself off from the ground. There's no way I'm going to let him stab me again! My muscles shook as I slowly dragged myself to an upright position. Ugh… it's really hard to catch my breath. How can this guy recover faster than me? We did the exact same thing to each other! This shouldn't be happening—

He was on me in an instant. Oh— My eyes slammed shut the moment he swung his weapon into my face. Sharp, prickly sensations jabbed into my eyelids a moment later, threatening to puncture my eyes. A pained scream escaped my mouth as the hit sent me flying to who-knows-where before I slammed into something solid.

Holy— He would have gouged my eyes out if I chose to have my Stand out! I lifted my stinging eyelids open. I think I might be close to the fountain again, considering I can see the rest of my team still on the ground. The sound of water trickling was also a good sign. In fact— I touched the marble behind me, feeling something wet graze my hand. Yep, I'm right in front of the fountain. I just hope that my landing didn't catch any more attention.

How far was the guy from me? My eyes searched the area, eventually spotting him where I used to be. Further than the last time he sent me flying. Okay, that's good. That means more time to recover. The boy broke into a sprint, causing me to pale up. And I stand corrected. I snatched the edge of the marble structure and flipped myself into the water. A shiver ran down my spine as the ice-cold water swallowed me whole, delving into my clothes. I called out my Stand as I lowered myself into the water, making a loose fist with one of my hands. Alright, any time now…

The moment he was within an arm's length away from me, I squeezed a small stream of water into his face as he swung at me again. It hit him straight on. Granted, it didn't really faze the boy, only causing him to blink. However, it did cause him to flinch, making him miss me by a couple of inches. More than enough for my plan. Before he could recover, I snatched his arm and pulled him towards me. The boy yelped as **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** lightened him up. His free hand tried grasping the edge of the marble, but a solid kick from me knocked it away. He's done.

All the boy could do was yelp as I swung him into the fountain with a splash. I didn't let up for an instant, bringing my Stand out to make the boy hyper dense while decreasing the density of the fountain water we stood in. He shouldn't be able to move now. That should stop him from doing anything—

A cry escaped my mouth as he slammed the glass bottle into the side of my leg, carving a deep gash that ended close to the bone. Blood started gushing out of the wound, staining the water red in an instant. What? What happened? I jerked myself out of the water, recalling my Stand again to slow the amount of blood coming out from my side. I thought that he shouldn't be able to bring himself back to the surface. Anything heavier than water will sink. I saw that myself in a pool once— Wait a minute… that's my problem. We're not in a pool, are we? He can easily escape because we're not in a deep pool, but a fountain that goes only a foot deep at most. He can still struggle out of it.

My face winced as he pulled himself out, although with some difficulty. Okay, that wasn't my best idea. Maybe find a bigger pool before trying something like that again. I bit the bottom of my lip. How long do I have before my sword gets here? Two seconds later, I could hear the thundering sounds of the rocket locker entering its last stage. I looked up. The rocket's coming right towards me! I jumped to the side right before it hit me as it landed with a thud, sending more shards of concrete flying into the air and knocking the wind out of my lungs. But that didn't really matter. Right now, I felt sweet relief when the locker door opened, revealing the sword in its sheath. My family heirloom.

The boy must've seen the weapon too as he threw himself out from the fountain and charged towards it. Oh no you don't!  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** came back out again as I snatched one of the broken off pieces of concrete and fired it into his knee. A yell escaped his mouth, stumbling before falling to the ground. This is my chance! I made my way over and ripped the weapon out from its container. At the same time, the boy crawled towards me, trying to jab the bloody glass into my foot. I felt Crocea Mors grow heavy in my hands as I swung it at his hand, knocking the weapon out of his hands. He didn't have a chance to gasp in surprise when I swung again, this time connecting with the side of his head. And like that, he fell like a sack of potatoes.

I took a couple of deep breaths, bringing back my Stand to finish healing my wounds. Finally, the guy's down. He's not going anywhere anytime soon. I raised the still sheathed Crocea Mors and attached it to my side. Finally, some time to think. I pressed my back against my rocket locker as I stared at the four people lying on the ground.

Alright, so what do I know so far? The boy I just knocked unconscious was probably not the Stand user. He still had Aura protecting him. Besides, everybody around us is still fighting. A hum escaped my mouth. Wait a minute… Now that I think I think about it, I don't recall hearing the sounds of fighting right now. Maybe he was the Stand user. Did everyone finally stop?

My head glanced up, only to find everybody else staring at me. Every single face in the crowd had a bloodthirsty look, like they want to spill my guts on the floor or something similar to that. Nope. Not even close. I held my hands up in the air as I tried to make myself look as peaceful as possible. "Nothing to see here, everyone," I muttered. "Go ahead and just do whatever you want."

"Oh, really?" The rest of the group dropped their fight, instead focusing on circling me. "Go ahead and do whatever we want? We're completely fine with that. We'll do whatever we feel like doing. And what we feel like doing is breaking every single bone in your body."

"Yes!" Everybody turned to see Nora wiggling on the ground in a creepy dance of ecstasy. "Break his bones! Shatter his femurs! Make him cry—" She herself cried in pain when somebody went over to her and stomped on her face. Although it wouldn't really do anything in the short-term, considering everybody here still has their Aura, it still made my blood boil.

"Hey!" I brandished my blade, giving them a glare as I pointed it at the crowd surrounding me. "Don't touch my teammate like that!"

"Oh really?" One of them walked towards me with a cocky strut. "Or what? What are you going to do, little man?" His words gave me pause. What am I going to do to get out of this? After all, I am surrounded by a ton of people who would love nothing more than to rip me apart. My heart skipped a beat as the circle started moving towards me, narrowing the amount of space I have to fight. This isn't good. It's going to be a lose-lose situation if I allow myself to get surrounded by these guys.

I jerked my head around, trying to look for any way to get out of the tightening noose of people. No dice. I can't spot a single hole that I can slip through. But if I don't act soon, I'm not going to get out anyway! Come on, what can I possibly do? My eyes fell on the rocket locker. Before Cardin mellowed out, he used to shove me into these and sent me flying to who-knows-where. It wasn't a pleasant experience, that's for sure. But maybe I can use this to my advantage.

Before the rest of the students could do anything, I leaped into the locker and slammed the door on it. Screams of anger and indignation escaped from everyone's mouth. I could make out several footsteps running towards my shelter. Gotta make this fast. My scroll flew into my hands as I tried looking up a coordinate to fire myself towards. Alright, what's a good location to be? It's best if I shot myself towards a place with a lot of people. I'm more likely to find the Stand user that way. Or actually, maybe it should be a place with as few people as possible. At least I'll have time to breathe.

My heart leaped when I heard banging noises on the metal container. From what I can see from the slits, there are several people banging their fists against the locker, trying to break in. A bead of sweat fell down my face. I know that this locker is made so that it is impossible to break into, but I should really hurry this up. I gazed at the map projected on my scroll. Come on, where should I go? I don't know what to choose!

The door ripped open, revealing a group of angry students staring me down. Wait, what? How did they get the door open? I glanced up to see Pyrrha standing up, her Semblance causing the metal door to float in the air. A growl escaped her mouth as she sent the door flying back in my direction. There's no time left! I hit a random location and sent the locker flying straight up into the air, just barely dodging the attack. The door instead bounced off the frame. One of the students groaned as the metal object bonked him in the head, knocking him down to the ground.

I snatched one of the hooks within the locker as I let out a sigh of relief. Whew, that was close. If I acted a second later, these guys would've ripped me out of the locker and that would be that. I glanced at the sky as I soared through the air. Alright, now just to find the Stand user attacking all of us. I scratched my head. How the hell did the Cupid manage to get into the school, hit a person with the Arrow, and then get out without us noticing? I'm sure that one of the known Stand users would have known about it by now. Even the ones who weren't helping us with the search. But to be caught by complete surprise… I'm not sure how that happened.

And speaking of which, all of a sudden everyone just stopped fighting each other and focused on me. On one hand, it's a relief knowing that at my team aren't going to get attacked. In the other hand, that means I'm now a target. Is it because I'm a Stand user? If so, then it might be possible that the others are going to get into a lot of trouble as well. I gritted my teeth. Even more reason to find this user as soon as possible.

Before I could dwell on that further, several streams of light in the skies caught my attention. What is that? I leaned my head outside, sending my hair flying wildly. My eyes widened as I recognized the telltale signs of rocket smoke. At this point, it looked like Beacon was on fire with the amount of smoke in the air. What the— Everybody called for their weapons? A bead of sweat dripped down my face. There must be hundreds of rocket lockers flying out right now! And if everybody's armed with a gun… Oh gods, that makes it even more dangerous to go after the Stand user!

A chirping noise escaped from my scroll as we started dipping down into a fall. Now that I think of it, what did I select to be my landing zone? Please tell me I chose a decent location. I don't think I can deal with all of the bad luck going on right now. I pulled out my scroll. A groan escaped from my mouth. Holy— How did I select a spot twenty meters away from the fountain? I swallowed as I saw the mass of students moving towards me. There's one strategy that can help me out now.

My body flew out of the locker the moment it crashed into the ground, sending me stumbling across the concrete floor. The war cries behind me pushed me to get up and start running. I have to find this Stand user now! The last thing I want to do right now is to be chased by a mob of angry Huntsmen! I looked into the blue sky, the streams of the rocket lockers still floating around. Gods, if you're up there please tell me that the other users are okay.

* * *

The only sound that rumbled through the arena were the cries of my team as we clashed in a two on two fight. My eyes flew all over the arena. My teammate Blake was currently going against Yang, playing a delicate game of dodging and countering against my sister's aggressive assault. Meanwhile, I'm currently eyeing all of the glyphs around me as Weiss bounced all over the place. My chest rose and fell, exhaustion starting to take over me. But I can't let my guard down no matter what. Any bounce from any angle could be the one where she strikes.

What a technique, using time dilation combined with multiple glyphs to confuse and overwhelm anyone going against her. According to my partner, this was her ace in the hole, and it's easy to see why. Weiss was barely a blur in my eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that a glyph would dim a little after she lands on it, I wouldn't be able to track her. And as far as I know, there's no way to predict her movements.

I bit my lip. While she might not be attacking me right now, this does make it hard for me to get to Blake. And honestly, if we want to win this match, we have to knock Yang's Aura into the red before teaming up and overwhelming Weiss. We can't let Yang build up her Semblance. So, how do I escape this? Well, at least without using my Stand. Don't want to over-rely on it, after all.

My hands tightened around the still scratched and unpainted Crescent Rose. An obvious choice would be to just wait it out until she tires. After all, Weiss doesn't exactly have the best endurance on the team, and there's no way she can keep this up for any longer than a minute. But a minute is forever when it comes to fighting, and in the minute I wait her out is a minute Blake has to defend herself against Yang.

Hmm… What if I fold up my weapon and throw my cape over my body as she's approaching me. She won't have any idea of where I am, and I can dodge and counter in the seconds she can't see me. If only I could predict where an attack was coming from… Then I would have an idea of where to throw my cape. Unless… Unless I can force her to come from a certain direction. Everything clicked in my mind. That's it!

Crescent Rose folded into its sniper form before I aimed for a random glyph. I can't believe I've forgotten about Weiss's training as a Huntsman. She might have gotten better at acting on the fly, but at the end of the day, all of her moves are rigid and calculated. Which means she is predictable. And if this is her ace in the hole, then that means this attack must have a certain pattern that she is following, whether it's due to muscle memory or something else. So just watch for a certain glyph to dim and—

A shriek escaped from the heiress as she slowed down to dodge a whizzing bullet. That didn't faze her one bit, as just a moment later she sped up again to one last glyph before pouncing towards me. Perfect!

The clasps clicked open as I yanked my cape off and threw it between myself and Weiss. My partner slammed into it, tangling herself in the fabric before flopping to the ground. Alright! I shifted Crescent Rose back into her scythe form. Time to go get Yang—

An arm with a yellow gauntlet wrapped around my torso and pulled me straight into the air. A choking sound escaped my mouth as precious air raced out of me, forcing me to drop my weapon. I could hear the tired pants of my sister right behind my ear. "Yield, little sis. Blake is down and you're on your own." Really? I glanced around the arena to see Blake sitting crisscrossed on the floor, her chest visibly moving. Well then… I guess I was too late then.

"Alright." I raised my hands high up into the air. "I yield. Freezerburn wins this round."

Yang let out a cheer as she put me down on the ground. "Yeah! I guess that means you owe me a favor! Hmm…" She stroked her chin. "You know, I need to change Bumblebee's oil soon… maybe my little sister will be more than willing to do that for me!"

I groaned, rolling my eyes in a goofy manner. "Anything but that!" Despite that, a smile crawled up my face. It's a nice change of pace. I took a sharp breath moments later. Wow, this fight took a lot out of us. Man, I don't to do anything except go back home, get a shower, something to eat before burrowing myself in my bed.

"Alright team RWBY!" I wiped the sweat off of my brow as I folded Crescent Rose back into its compact form. The rest of my teammates made their way towards me as they put away their own weapons. Weiss brushed off a bit of dust before handing me back my cape, which I put on in an instant. "I think that's enough for today!" A sigh escaped from my mouth. "Whew, that was a great mock battle! In fact, I think that we're just about ready for the Vytal Festival!"

The rest of the girls gave a tired cheer, bringing a smile to my face. While it's sad that we don't have a chance to go out today, we can still be together as a team when fighting. And while it sucks that we missed out on a chance to find the Cupid, we can always work on something else, like refining our Huntsmen styles. That's going to be important if we're going to corner the Cupid and any users that might get on our way.

A groan of frustration escaped from my sister. I glanced up at Yang, who combed through her hair a lot more than usual. She's being a bit fussier with her hair today. She let out an annoyed scoff at a particularly stubborn lock on top of her head. Speaking of which. We're going to need to find time to practice with our Stands. I mentally groaned. But all I want to do is sleep… But we have to be ready, even if there's nobody attacking is right now. Maybe I can convince Weiss and Blake to sneak out after lights out and then train them. If another Stand user attacks us, we can't be caught by surprise.

"Why. Won't. This. Stay?!" Yang's eyes turned crimson as she went to work combing the lock of hair down with both hands, but no matter what, it never failed to pop back up. "Aw, come on!" She threw her hands in the air. "I just can't this part of my hair down no matter what I do!"

Weiss gave her teammate a weird look. "Isn't that the part of your hair that always sticks up? I don't know why you're being picky about this now—"

"Shut up and let me comb it, will you?!" Everybody drew back at the sudden outburst. And with that, Yang continued to comb through her hair. Blake looked at me before going back to her partner.

"Umm… Yang?" The girl looked up at the cat faunus. Blake cleared her throat. "As irritating as it is right now, I think that we can just comb your hair back at the dorm rooms. You know, where we keep all of the hairbrushes and hair products to help with your hair problem."

"No, but I can't go out looking like this!" Yang started scratching at her head in irritation. "No, I have to make sure that it's perfect! There's no way I can settle for anything less!"

"Yang, as much as you like your hair, at the end of the day it's still just hair." Weiss shook her head at the girl. "We can fix it when we get back. Hell, we can get a shower and get our hair brushed! There's no need to fuss about it." My partner turned around. "Come on, let's go home. "

The fiery blonde didn't say a word, instead spreading her legs out into a wide stance. I bit my lip. That's not a good sign. Who in the world widens their stance for any other reason but to fight? I have no idea why Yang's so angry right now, but I need to step in and diffuse the situation. A sigh escaped my mouth as I started walking towards my sister. "Come on, Yang—"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Yang threw her fist towards Weiss, sending a firestorm of buckshot with an explosive bang. The heiress cried out in pain as it struck her in the back, sending her toppling to the floor.

Blake was on it almost immediately, running over and snatching Yang's arm out from the air. Another shotgun round went off, sending a cloud of concrete dust into the air. "Yang!" the girl yelled. "What's wrong with you? You just shot Weiss in the back!"

"Yeah, and why are you trying to stop me?" My sister started twisting her arm, trying to get out of Blake's grip. "Just let me pump a couple more rounds of buckshot into Weiss! I need to show this prick of an heiress what for!"

"I can't let you do that!" The faunus girl jerked her head towards Weiss. "Ruby, check on your partner!" I nodded, rushing over to the fallen girl with a brief burst of my Semblance.

"You okay, Weiss?" I glanced over her back. I don't see any bullet wounds. That's good; that means that Weiss didn't have her Aura shatter on impact. The last thing we need right now is putting Weiss in the hospital for something that could really be avoided.

At the sound of my voice, my partner rolled over, giving me a quick nod. "It stings really bad, but it wasn't enough to break through my Aura. I'll be fine." She groaned as she lifted herself back up to a seated position. "The pain wouldn't be as bad if she didn't catch me by surprise, though. But I think that I'll be—" She stumbled.

"Weiss!" In an instant, I snatched her wrist and pulled her back upright. "Are you sure you're okay? What if you got a concussion or something from the whiplash?"

"That's not how Aura works!" Weiss snapped back, causing me to flinch back. She rubbed the base of her forehead before her face softened. "Don't worry, Ruby. I'll be fine. But that's not what we have to worry about right now." She glanced at my sister. "Why would Yang shoot me in the back like that? I mean, she does have a temper, but she's never snapped back at somebody this quickly or this severely."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I—"

"Duck!" The familiar boom of Ember Celica sounded soon after Blake's warning. In an instant I threw myself into Weiss, knocking us both to the ground. A cloud of buckshot soared over us a moment later. My head twisted towards the source of the rounds. The cat faunus quickly regained control of my sister's limbs, but it's clear that's not going to last. We seriously can't let this go on! We got to disable Yang's weapons now!

"Blake!" I yelled as I pulled myself up. "There's an emergency release button on the bottom of Yang's gauntlets! Use a paperclip or something to something to pop them off!"

"I don't have a paperclip on me! Why would I?" The girl in black grunted as she threw herself around the brawler, trying her best to restrain her partner while at the same time avoiding the business end of the shotguns. A groan escaped my mouth. Of course. Who in the world carries paperclips these days? … Well, Jaune does, after that day after we got discharged from the nurse's office. But he's currently at that JNPR meeting at the fountain. I really do hope that they can solve their problems sooner than later. Would be a shame if they fought for a long time like our team.

But enough of that. My eyes roamed around the area. What's something that is short and thin like a paperclip? My eyes glanced at the crown tiara pin Weiss had on. The little prongs on it might work, but I don't think that Weiss would be too happy about me breaking something she's wearing. It's probably something expensive as well. I shrugged. Whelp, I guess I'll just take a segment of my collarbone and straighten it out.

Rose appeared behind me as I ran my finger across the bone. And just like that, my skin peeled away into tiny little petals, leaving a rosy cut at the base of my neck. I covered the marking with the edge of my cape. They reformed in my hand, the white porous material making on a thin, straight form.

"Got one! Blake, hold on for a moment! I'll come to you!" I made my way towards the two struggling girls. "Okay, go ahead and grab her right arm. I'll take the left and get that before moving on to the right."

I twisted Yang's arm over. On one of the seams is a small but distinct hole. It's a good thing I spent some time experimenting with Yang's weapon while I was still building Crescent Rose back in Signal. She'll probably be angry at me for messing with her stuff again, but we can't let her shoot anyone again. One jab of my bony pick and the weapon unbuckled in an instant, falling straight to the ground. I made quick work of the other one as well. With that, I kicked the weapons towards Weiss.

"Hold on to those for a moment, alright Weiss?" I turned to look at Blake as I pushed the bone pick back into my body. "This is weird, though. I've never seen any of Yang's outbursts last for this long. In fact, she isn't the kind of person to get so easily angered by such a little thing. I think it's unnatural. Somebody did this to her."

Amber eyes widened in realization. "You don't think—"

I nodded. "There might be a user in the area. I can't think of anything else that could've happened to get Yang all angry like this. We have to track them down as soon as possible. But first, we need to find a way to calm Yang down."

"Leave it to me." Blake suddenly switched positions, wrapping her right arm around Yang's neck and squeezing. Her left hand pressed against the back of my sister's head. The blonde's crimson eyes widened before she started another struggle, throwing her hands behind as she tried grabbing Blake's head. Choking sounds started to escape from my sister.

A gasp escaped my mouth. "What are you doing, Blake?!"

The cat faunus nodded at me. "One moment." A couple of seconds later, Yang went limp in Blake's arms. The book lover sighed as she lowered Yang to the ground. "It's something I learned in my time in the White Fang before it became radical. Aura protects from anything that attempts to harm the body, such as a sword to the stomach or something like that. However, takedowns like this just cut off the flow of blood to the brain, causing the victim to faint. Assuming you get the chance, Huntsmen can go down just like that." She turned to look at me. "She's going to be out for maybe a minute, so we should really tie Yang down or something. Just in case she's still angry when she wakes up."

I nodded as I dashed towards the door, looking through the window before stopping. "Uh… I don't think we can do that."

"What?" Weiss exclaimed. "Why not?"

My breath hitched as I stared at the complete chaos right outside the door. For some reason, the whole student body is at each other's throats. In a literal sense. "We can't go outside. The whole world's gone insane."

* * *

Normally a staff meeting was a chore to go through. While there's no doubt that these meetings are necessary for society to stay together, I have no doubt that everyone here would rather be doing something better with their lives. And while one might think that having a Councilman in the meeting will make us take it a bit more serious, the mood stayed the same. For the first half an hour, it felt like a usual meeting.

My eyes widened as I sat up in my seat. The boredom in my eyes faded away as I observed the room. Something about this meeting changed in a flash. All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the faculty room became a little too… tense for my liking. I pushed my tinted glasses up as I stared at all of the faculty members of Beacon chatting amongst each other. From the looks of it, they were chatting about budgets and general reports like usual. But I can sense a change. There was an air of tension that didn't exist amongst everyone before.

James sat directly across from me, fingers laced as he gave me an intimidating stare. I narrowed my eyes. Just moments ago he was more neutral. Peach, Bart, and Peter had their eyes turned towards the papers in their hands, but their body language screamed tense. Glynda returned Ironwood's stare with cold hostility. On the far-right wall rested a monitor with the shadowy figure of one of the Councilmen, seemingly unaffected by all of this. Why am I getting a bad feeling?

I coughed into my hand, getting everyone together. "If we feel like we've discussed this subject matter enough, we should move on." I hit a button on the table. "Of course, the biggest issue that we have to discuss today is the Vytal Festival. More specifically, the setup of the carnival stalls for local businesses." I tapped a couple more buttons on the desk, causing the table to illuminate the current selection for the fairgrounds. "We currently have a massive list of all of the companies and stores that wish to sell here on the fairgrounds of Beacon, but we simply don't have space for them all. My current ideas for cutting down the list would be to—"

Peter let out a yawn, leaning back on his chair in the process. "Do we really need to be here for this kind of discussion, Ozpin? I mean no offense, but I'm a Huntsmen, not a businessperson. Organizing this kind of thing isn't my forte. So why bother?"

"I can't particularly disagree with Peter here." Bart took another sip from his thermos. "I don't think any of us here have the qualifications to do this. Maybe we can set the matter aside for now and work on some of the more important aspects such as who should be the announcers. Now I have a couple of candidates in mind—"

"If you don't mind me saying," the shadowy Councilman noted. "This is a particular issue that has to be considered, even without the proper professionals to perform this task. But this is an easy compromise, I feel. If everyone here agrees, I'll have it delegated to one of the committees, and they'll handle it."

"Thank you," I responded, internally sighing a breath of relief. These meetings could get awfully dull, but even I can feel my energy being sapped away. It wouldn't be a surprise that the other instructors are starting to get snappy. At least the Councilman is not meddling with things like his colleagues usually do. He's actually helpful for a change. To my left, Glynda rolled her eyes as she peered at her scroll. "I'll let you do that, Councilman. Well I think that we can move on to—" Her eyes widened. "What the—"

The blonde teacher shot up, starting towards the door. "Sorry for the sudden outburst, but I have to leave. Now." Everybody raised their eyebrows at that.

"What?" Peter let out a chuckle. "And why wouldn't you be here at the mandatory meeting, Glynda? The one everyone is supposed to attend all of the way through?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Our students are fighting each other. I have to deal with this mess now." My eyes narrowed at that. Are they really? Well, it has happened before. The food fight early in the year comes to mind. I had to stifle a chuckle at the memory. What a silly commotion teams RWBY and JNPR made. I shook my head. Even so, I'm not so sure about what makes this one so pressing.

And it seems that Peter agrees as well, seeing the jealous look on his face. "What? That's it? Ah, come on, Glynda!" He flicked his wrist with a chortle. "You don't need to worry about the kids for a moment! We have adult stuff to suffer through— I mean discuss!"

Glynda in a moment slammed her hands against the table, punching a bunch of buttons. "Oh really? And is this!" The display changed, showing the entire school in chaos. From the looks of it, every single student was locked in some kind of fistfight. I winced as one of them swung a chair into someone's crotch. Glynda pushed her glasses up as she let out a huff. "Is that scene something to just ignore!"

"... Yes." Everybody turned to look at the professor in surprise. Peter gave us a cheeky grin. "This isn't that big of a deal, Glynda. Students get cramped in here on a vacation day, they have to let out their energy somewhere. And they are Huntsmen, so I'm not surprised it would end up like this. I mean it could be worse. They could be breeding all over the streets like rabbits."

"Peter!" Bart shot up from his seat.

"What? It's not like I'm lying. But in all seriousness." Peter narrowed his already narrow eyes. "You're not going anywhere. Move any closer to the door, and I'll make sure that you'll stay here until the end of this meeting."

My administrator scoffed, brushing a lock of her hair to the side. "I'm not going to even respond to that. Peter, they're destroying the school, and I won't let that happen!" She started towards the door.

"Oh no you don't!" In an instant, Peter pulled himself onto the table and tackled Glynda down with a yell. "You're not getting away from this! We're in this together!"

"Peter, get off!" A burst of purple caused the rest of us to shield our eyes. The portly man let out a yelp as he flew across the room. Glynda stood up, riding crop in hand.

I started out of my seat. "Glynda, calm down—"

"No!" She pointed the weapon at me. "Sit down, Ozpin. I'm not going to say this again, but this is where I draw the line! You let me go deal with this threat or I'm throwing you across the room as well!"

The sounds of seats scratching against the floor as everybody else got up. That was quickly followed by the distinct signs of mechashifting. It might be an overstatement to say that I've figured out the source of the tension in the room. I myself reached for my cane as my mind ran. Why would there be a confrontation like this? Peter might act unprofessionally at times, but he never had a problem with Glynda. What changed?

"What in the blazes is going on?!" The Councilman yelled from the speaker. "Ozpin, care to give me an explanation as to why Beacon is in chaos and why one of your colleagues threw another across the room?"

A sigh escaped my mouth as I wrapped my fingers around my cane. "Let's just say that the situation has gotten… bizarre. It isn't going to be a major concern for the Valean Council." I pushed my glasses up. "You know, I feel like this is a good point to hold a break to this conversation. We'll take a break for lunch and come back together around…" I glanced at a clock. "How does one o' clock sound?"

"Say what?" The distortion over the Councilman's voice was starting to strain. "Are you out of your mind? This is a situation that—"

"Good to hear, Councilman. Have an enjoyable lunch break."

"Wait—"

Before he can say anything else, I jabbed a button, cutting the feed and ending the video call. "Well then." I tapped the cane on the table. "That was an unfortunate setback. But I'm going to cut everyone some slack. It's been a stressful day after all. Why don't we let Glynda check on the students, and we'll enjoy lunch? I heard that the chefs were experimenting with a new kind of dish—"

Peter's broadaxe flew through the air moments later, moving directly towards Glynda. With a sigh, the weapon started glowing purple as it slowed down in the air. The woman growled as the weapon started spinning in the air. "I warned everyone!" My eyes widened. I got to dodge now. But where do I jump? Do I jump on the table? Or move towards the ground?

Without another thought, I threw myself straight onto the ground. All of a sudden, I was seeing double: a reality where I was lying on the ground and a reality where I slammed against the table. From the corner my vision of both realities, everybody else was jumping out of the way of the flying blade.

My mind raced as I considered my choices. It's interesting how my ability of superpositioning works. At a moment's notice, I'm at two positions at once. I can do two actions at once, I can see multiple branches of reality I can go through, but eventually have I to collapse back into one position. Seeing that I don't die on the table, I crumbled the reality with me on the ground while focusing on solidifying the leftover reality.

"What are you doing, Ozpin?" Glynda waved her spinning axe blade. I blinked as my double vision disappeared, placing me firmly on the table. "I'm not going to say another thing. Stay back!" Something tells me this has to do with the recent awakening of another Stand user…

"Ozpin!" James cocked a gun from somewhere behind me. "Don't interfere! Try anything, and I'll gun you down!" The rest of the teachers grunted as their stares burned into my back. Definitely the effects of a Stand user. As shaky as our relationship is, James and I aren't antagonistic: at least not to the point where we'd kill each other. And from the looks of it, everybody else was being affected as well. The only one not affected so far is me. But that means I have to knock out all of them. But which one do I choose? Glynda? James? Peter? Bart? Peach? I can't choose.

This time I saw five different visions, each with me focusing on a different person. Four alternate 'me's' were stacked within each other as we faced against all of our opponents. All of us launched at once, each aiming our canes at various parts of the head. Glynda and Peach went down with strikes to the temple. Peter and Bart fell once they were hit in the side of their necks. James sidestepped my shot towards his carotid artery. I know which position I'm taking. The rest of the superpositioned Ozpins dissipated, leaving this current reality of me fighting against the Atlesian Headmaster.

Reality split again as three different versions of me aimed their canes at all of the pressure points at his head. This time he took a blow to the temple, falling like a log soon after. I sighed. We really didn't need to have one of the Councilmen see this happening. It's not going to be pleasant to explain to the man. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Now I have to figure out who hasn't been affected by the Stand user and how to stop this from happening.

I punched a couple of buttons on the table, bringing up the view of every camera in Beacon. Just like in Glynda's example, everybody's fighting each other. Hmm… I'm thinking that the Stand user can control the emotions of people around him or her. No, not control. Influence would be a better word. If they could control the emotion of the masses, why make everyone angry? Why not choose a select few individuals and get them to accomplish the task? No, the ability must be influencing everyone in a certain area.

But there have to be exceptions to this rule. If not, I would be fighting everyone else right now in a mindless rage. But why would I out of all people be chosen? Maybe I could figure it out if I can find somebody else who isn't affected by the Stand. But without that, there's too little information to work with. I'm not sure if it's possible to find to Stand user based on— wait a minute. My gaze flickered to the leftmost monitor. What was that?

My eyes squinted as I focused on the scene in question. The street between the school fountain and the hero statue was full of berserking students in a straight up brawl. While the majority of the students were striking each other using just their fists, a few of them came at their fellow classmates with their respective weapons. I winced at the sight as I looked through the crowd.

A mop of blonde hair escaped from the sea of students, catching my attention. My eyes narrowed. That's Mr. Arc, all right. I almost lost him for a second due to all of the flailing bodies trying to swallow him up. But there's something curious about him. Unlike the others, he didn't seem to be actively trying to kill his fellow peers. I watched as he pushed through the student body. If anything, he was trying his best not to harm them. One of my eyebrows rose up as I spotted the chasm he carved through the sea of bodies. Everybody he touches flopped to the ground and stayed there.

I hummed. So he isn't affected by the Stand ability. While that's a relief to see that another Stand user is okay, that doesn't uncover a lot of information. What do we have in common that could reveal how this rage-inducing Stand works? I flipped to another screen to see most of Team RWBY in a tight-knit circle, whispering something amongst each other while they looked at the entrance of an air vent. The only exception to this was Yang, who was a couple of meters away. She screamed in rage as she struggled against some sort of restraint. Hmm… So Ms. Rose, Ms. Schnee, and Ms. Belladonna are okay as well. I tapped my finger on the desk. And they're… also Stand users. Hmm… An idea started to form in my head. Maybe?

I flipped through the footage, looking for more confirmed Stand users. Where are they… Aha! I stopped. I found them: Mr. Porfirio, Ms. Darcy, and Mr. Alistair. All of them scrunched up behind a table as thousands of machine gun rounds chewed into the wooden barricade. Ms. Adel let out a loud roar as she fired her minigun all over the library.

"Coco!" A wire human Stand appeared in front of Mr. Alistair as he nudged himself close to the edge of the table. "Come on, snap out of it! This isn't you! You need to get yourself together!" His Stand tried to dart out, only to fade away the moment the table gave way. A grunt escaped the boy's mouth as the bullets pierced through his shoulder, splattering blood all over the area. Mr. Alistair darted back into cover, nursing his wounded shoulder as he muttered a curse. A pang of guilt washed over me. I can't do anything to save them while keeping the teachers in this meeting room.

But at the same time, this proves my theory right. None of the Stand users are affected by this ability. An image of the enemy Stand user formed in my head. Everything is clear now. Whoever we're going against, the Stand user was going to be somebody we never confirmed to be a Stand user, yet is somebody who isn't directly involved in the fighting. That's who I need to look for.

With that in mind, I flipped through all of the cameras yet again, trying to look for someone who falls into that general description. Look for a student who isn't fighting mindlessly, but isn't known to be a Stand user. I let out a sharp breath, resisting the urge to groan. This is just like reading a book of 'Where's Wapi.' It's difficult to find somebody who meets those requirements in this sea of movement. And with the wide-angle shots these cameras were designed for, it's hard to make out a single individual in a massive group of—

Wait a minute… I leaned closer to one of the displays. It was currently focused on the area around the Dawning Hero statue. There was a makeshift stage built in front of it. Considering the mountain of instruments, tools, and other knick-knacks, there must've been some kind of performance or talent show the students came up with to amuse themselves. All of the students in the area were bashing their equipment into each other. Seems like the performance didn't work out.

But that's not what I'm interested in. Sure enough, I could make out somebody sitting on the edge of the cliff the concrete heroes stood on. The student had their chin rested on their hand as they stared at the fighting almost impassively. I felt my lips pull up into a small smile. Whoever that person is, they're not fighting. I don't quite recognize them as any Stand user I've talked to. They must be the one who's causing this.

I hit another button on the table and pulled up a contact list. My eyes glanced back at the screen with Mr. Arc, who was in the middle of scaling one of the windy trees as the crowd threatened to swallow him up. It's not ideal, but he's the closest one to the Stand user. He needs to hear about this.

* * *

Sweat dripped down the side of my face as I finally hoisted myself into the branches, just slipping out of the grasp of one of the taller students. All of the leaves rustled around me. The rest of the crowd snarled as they started smashing their fists into the tree, forcing me to tighten my grip around the branches. I gritted my teeth. I might've bought myself some time, but this isn't going to last long. For some reason, the closer I got to Beacon proper, more people would stop fighting each other and start chasing after me! What gives? I was hoping that I could sneak through the school, but now I feel like a piece of meat dropped into a swarm of piranhas!

Somebody stepped into my view and pulled out a gun. Oh no. A shriek escaped my mouth as I curled up and unfolded my shield. Submachine gunfire riddled my only source of cover just moments later, sending several clanging sounds into the air. I have to get out of here now! We may have surprisingly resilient trees, but my safe spot was bound to fall with so many students surrounding me. And when it does… I shivered. One bullet and I'm going to die, just like that.

But how am I going to get out of here? Maybe if the leaves are sticky, I could stick them together and make a paraglider! … No, that's a stupid idea. The sap isn't going to stay together like that, even if I made myself as light as possible. However, these leaves are pretty big… The size of my hand—

Rumbling from my pocket pulled me out of my thoughts. Is somebody calling me from my scroll? Wait a minute… who could be calling my scroll? Everybody should be enraged. But if this call is happening… that means somebody isn't affected by the Stand ability! Hope bloomed within my chest. Maybe we do have a chance after all! I yanked the device out and answered the call, attaching it to my shield soon after. "Hello?"

Professor Ozpin popped up on my screen. "Mr. Arc? Is that you?"

I gasped. "Headmaster! You're okay!" My mind raced. My gods, I can't believe it. The Headmaster is fine. Maybe there's a range on this thing after all? His tower is high up, it being taller than the diameter of the school. Was it? I might be mistaken. But nevermind that. It could be possible that the Stand can't affect him from that high up!

Meanwhile, he let out a chuckle. "I am. And I'm glad that you managed to find a safe place to have this conversation. Although I'm not too sure if that tree can hold up."

My face paled up. "How did you—"

"Schools always have safety measures, Mr. Arc. Beacon is no different. But let's not delve into our academy's security. All that matters is that I've discovered where the Stand user is right now."

"What? Really?" I sat up, only to duck down again at the sight of a handgun. "Oop! Where?"

"He's currently right next to the Dawning Hero statue. You're the closest Stand user to it, which is why I called you first. I'm going to inform Ms. Rose and her team about this fact as well."

"Ruby's team is fine?" My eyebrows furrowed. Everything just became confusing again. There's no way that they could've been outside of the Stand user's range. So how did they not get affected by the bloodlust in the air?

"Well, most of them." The Headmaster shook his head. "Ms. Xiao-Long had to be restrained, but the rest of the team's okay the last time I checked." Oh. But Yang's the only one affected? How does this make any sense? This seems like too much of a coincidence. How is it that all of the Stand users remain unaffected— Oh… I let out a groan. I just answered my own question. That has to be the exception to the rule.

Still, I nodded my head towards the screen. "Thank you, Headmaster. I'll get over there as soon as possible." With that, I ended the call. So the Stand user's somebody who isn't fighting everyone without a care in the world. Got it. Now the question is how to get out of the tree. What was my last thought before I received the call? It was something about the leaves I think… Oh yeah! I plucked one of them off. It's going to be a delicate process, but if I do this just right…

The leaf started to grow and flatten out in my hands. It's a difficult process for sure, trying to increase the volume while adjusting for mass. Then I have to make sure that the surface area is all perfect so that it can support my fall. How do parachute makers make them? I sighed as I looked at the leaf, now the size of my arm. The flat parts of the leaf were already trying to flop. If it wasn't for the leaf stem, it would most likely flop around. I can't believe it. There's no way to increase volume anymore without making mass effectively zero. Well, that was a waste of time. Not getting out that way. Oh, come on… How do I get out? I swung the leaf in frustration.

A giant gust of wind flew out from it, sending a couple of students flying into the air. I gasped. What the— What just happened? I just created wind by swinging this leaf. But there's no way that could actually happen. While the shape looks like a fan, it shouldn't be able to create this strong gust just by waving it around. Unless… just what kind of tree am I in?

My hands plucked one of the unaffected leaves. I held it up to the sun, narrowing my eyes. There was a light green glow to it, similar to glitter. Wait a minute… leaves shouldn't glitter. At least not naturally. And now that I think about it, there's no wind today and the leaves are still moving like there's a breeze— My eyes widened. Maybe I'm onto something… Could it be? I sniffed the leaf. Just a hint of ozone registered in my nostrils. Oh my gods… that's Wind Dust. So that's why I could generate wind! There's Wind Dust in the tree!

Now that the fact's clear in my head, everything else clicked into place. I'm thinking about it the wrong way! Why fly out when I can just make a hole in the crowd I'm in? I recalled my Stand as I swung the leaf up and down as hard as I can. Several cries escaped from the rest of the student body as they the wind caught them and sent them flying across campus. I grinned. There's the opening!

I leaped out from my cover, landed in the opening and made a break for the statue, waving the leaf at the crowd behind me. More furious screams escaped their mouths. Many of them waved their hands in the air like birds trying to flap against the wind. Well, that's most of the crowd problem dealt with. It's so much easier making my way forward with the leaf blowing everybody else away. With this, I can get to the Stand user in no time!

And before I knew it, I found myself entering the plaza where the statue was located. The stage looked different than when I passed it a few minutes ago. Several instruments sat abandoned on the edges of the stage with clear signs of wear and tear. There were also magic props, stage sets for what looks like a play which lay snapped in pieces. I think there was a giant target for what looks like archery ripped apart, the fluff coating the ground like snow.

Like most of the places I've been at Beacon, there were people beating each other up without any restraint. Unlike the other locations, however, I saw somebody sitting on the statue. The boy himself had his body rested between the legs of the guy hero. His arms rested on said hero's feet, each hand holding a wicked dagger with a Dust cylinder filled to the brim. He had his legs hanging from the edge of the cliff, kicking it around as he looked down at everyone else. The mohawked-haired kid looked up and spotted me.

"Jaune…" Russel Thrush called out. Everybody in the plaza stopped fighting and turned to look at me. "What are you doing here? Don't you see we're having a performance right now? I know it's spontaneous, but these people put a lot of effort into making this a fun day for everyone."

"What the—" I shook my head. "What are you talking about? Don't you see the fighting going on?"

The boy shook his head. "You must be mistaken, Jaune. You've just walked in and interrupted the dancing everyone's been having. Nobody's fighting."

Okay, what? Is Russel delusional or something? How is he not seeing the fighting in front of him? "You're wrong. Russel, the whole school's beating each other up! There's no way you couldn't have noticed that from right here."

The boy in the mohawk stared into my eyes. His brown eyes were glossy and hazed, like he's not completely there. "Seriously, Jaune. This isn't funny. Everybody's just having a bit of fun. Right guys?"

"Yeah!" The whole crowd roared, pumping up fists with glowing Aura. At this point, I can see thin lines zig-zagging across their glowing bodies. I winced at the sight. Everybody's Aura is going to crack. And if it does… Oh gods, I have to stop this!

"See, Jaune? Everything's fine." A Stand appeared behind him. Unlike the others, this one didn't freely float, but instead wrapped itself around his head, like a sloth wrapped around a tree. It reminded me of a robotic toddler, but with a face of a TV screen. Two windmill blades spun around on each hand. It's almost like the Stand's controlling him instead of him controlling the Stand. "You see this crowd? We are all part of  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC,** **」** got it? And if you say otherwise—" Everyone took a step forwards. The Stand cackled as a robotic face appeared on the TV screen. It spoke in Russel's place.

" _We'll just have to remove you._ "

**⇐TO BE CONTINUED= 11/10/2017**


	23. Feel Good Inc - Part 2

A sneeze came out of my mouth as I crawled through the air ducts. I sniffed, scrunching my nose before combing my short hair back. Whew, this place was dusty! I can feel my hand breaking through the thick layer of the fine powder that settled on the bottom of the rectangular metal tube. I can barely make out the dust mixing into the air. How is it possible for this place to be so… unclean? The A/C works, after all. Just using it should blow all of the dust particles out. So how in the world is there a thick layer of dust?

The sounds of banging metal rang through the tunnel every time I moved any of my limbs, making me wince. I know that we're underground; the Headmaster insisted that we were. But at the same time, the last thing I wanted to experience was for one of the segments to fall, sending my team falling into a group of bloodthirsty students. Nope, not at all. I've seen enough movies to know that air ducts can't hold a lot of weight. Even if we are technically underground. And I don't know, it's possible that the sound might attract some of them in our direction. I hope that isn't the case.

"Headmaster," I heard Blake mutter. My ears could pick up similar banging noises coming from the faunus girl and Weiss. At least those two were still crawling behind me. "Are you sure this leads outside?"

"I'm certain," the man replied from my scroll. "I had the architects create this pathway with a clear escape route in mind. The original idea was that should the school ever be in attack, anybody trapped inside the buildings could always find their way outside. At least in the open, you have more options." He let out a hum. "While I originally dismissed it as a redundant emergency system, it's nice to know that this design choice wasn't in vain."

Weiss let out a breath. "Right… But let me get this straight: Jaune is currently chasing after the Stand user, and we're going to provide him with backup. Is that right?"

"That's the idea. Give me a moment…" The Headmaster went silent for awhile. "On second thought, you happen to be getting close to the library. If I recall, I believe Mr. Porfirio, Mr. Alistair, and Ms. Darcy happen to be under fire by Ms. Adel. Doubling your numbers might help Mr. Arc when you make it to the school statue."

"Hmm…" I twisted my nose to try to stifle another sneeze. "Sounds like a good idea. We are going to fight against the entire school, after all."

Weiss let out a hum of agreement. "Plus, Nolan and Gwen both have Stand abilities that are great against crowds. If we bring them with us, we might be able to negate this Stand user's strength in numbers."

"That's true. At the same time, Jaune's going to be fighting alone for every second we spend getting those guys." Blake let out a sigh. "He doesn't have a humanoid figure for a Stand like us, so his options are extremely limited. Plus, I don't like the fact that Coco has a gun. That means that several other students must have their weapons on them as well. If Jaune makes a single mistake, he's going to get shot and killed, we're going to lose the Stand user, and who knows what would happen from there?"

I bit my lip at that admission. Blake's right as well. Jaune's currently the only person who knows who the Stand user is aside from the Headmaster. If he didn't know that was right now, he'll know soon enough. There's no way the Stand user was going to stay still if one person knows where they are. And if that user blends in with the fighting, then the Headmaster might never find them ever again, and we're screwed. All of Beacon's going to kill themselves through in-fighting.

But it might take even longer for us to fight our way through. Team RWBY doesn't have any Stand abilities to deal with a massive crowd. I can go around them, but then what? One wrong move and I'm surrounded. Same thing for Blake. She might be able to go through the crowd, but if she fails in knocking the Stand user out, she's surrounded and done for. Weiss is the only person who has an ability that could take out a crowd, but it's going to draw a lot of attention, making our job even harder. But with Nolan and Gwen… I've seen what **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** could do firsthand to a crowd of people. And Gwen's ability to make surfaces sticky is going to be really helpful. And Fox… I don't really know what his ability is, but whatever it is, it's going to be a nice bonus.

I looked at the branching path in front of me. "Where do we go to get to the library, Headmaster?"

"Ruby?" Blake whispered.

"If we get those guys, we can blaze through the crowd and get to Jaune faster." I turned my head to look at my teammates. "While we can make it through the crowd by ourselves, we also can't guarantee our safety if we get surrounded. Having those guys means we can stop the mob from retaliating against us, limiting this Stand user's strength."

"Make a turn right," the Headmaster replied soon afterward. "From the looks of it, you'll be entering from the side of the library, within Ms. Adel's field of vision."

"Alright." I started towards the right branch. "Here's the plan. Since I can get shot and break myself into rose petals without getting hurt, I'll go in first and get Coco to redirect her fire. Blake, your ability's best for sneaking behind Coco, so while she's distracted, you sneak up and knock her out. Weiss, create a stable Dust wall and bring the others to the air duct."

Sounds of agreement escaped their mouths. The sounds of machine gun fire grew louder and louder as we crawled closer to the library. Not long after, we came across the grate that separated the air duct from the library. I punched it off as I unfolded the stock on Crescent Rose. One look into the chamber revealed that the training rounds were still loaded.

My eyes glanced at the scene in front of us. The area where the tables stood was now in disarray, with almost every single table flipped over or destroyed. To the left of us were the bookcases. Coco stood on a still intact table in no man's land, firing towards the bookcases. That's probably where everyone else is.

Rose appeared in front of me. "Alright, guys. On a count of three. One… two…"

I pulled myself out of our shelter, firing a dummy round at the fashionista. The shot went wild, blowing a hole a foot away from the girl. However, it did exactly what I wanted as Coco turned her head towards me. I can feel the lightning spark between our eyes.

With a scoff she twisted her gatling gun in my direction, dragging the firestorm of bullets in my direction. I gritted my teeth. Come on, Ruby. Everybody needs you to escape this… I'm not going to get gunned down here! One last hard shove popped me out of the vent and onto the floor.

Not one moment after I slipped out of the air duct, I whipped my right hand through the air, sending my pinky flying towards the bookshelf everyone was hiding behind. The rose-petaled stump left on my arm waved in the air in time with the sounds of gunfire, which was actually closer than I thought to my head—! I pushed my body up into the air to the side, just narrowly dodging the stream of lead that swept under me. My fingers twitched back at the heat of the bullet stream. The rest of my team yelped, backing into the air duct to avoid the ricochet.

Come on, I need to get Coco's attention again! I got up with a roll, racking Crescent Rose at the same time. Another dummy round whistled through the air, this time bouncing next to the fashionista's feet with a crack. Coco gritted her teeth. She rolled her neck and her shoulder before sweeping the gun towards me again.

I started making a break for it. Oh gods, oh gods. I can feel the stream of bullets moving closer and closer as I ran across the room. Alright, Ruby. You got Coco's attention. Now just keep her focus away from the others. It shouldn't be too bad. All I have to do is run just a little faster than the bullets. That's all. **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** lagged right behind me, face turned towards the projectiles coming towards me. I can make out the sounds of a Dust crystal forming. Weiss should be out. I can't tell for Blake, but she's most likely in the library too.

One look behind me showed my partner ducking behind a bookcase. Weiss turned to look at me, giving me a thumbs up. On the wall nearby was Blake merged with the wall, currently trying to navigate the several pictures hung on the walls. They're both out and safe from Coco. Now just to look for cover—

Another yelp escaped my mouth when a couple of rounds skimmed me, carving shallow wounds across my back. Okay, gotta speed things up again! I'd rather not be shot to pieces! I picked up the pace. Despite that, I can still feel the bullets right at my heels. Should I try punching the bullets with my Stand? … No, that seems like a terrible idea. I'll be punching thousands of rounds a second, and where would they go? I gritted my teeth. Screw it, just jump for cover! And with that, I dove behind the closest shelf to me.

"What the—" Nolan stepped back as I barreled past him, rolling along the ground with a couple of coughs. "Ruby? Man, I thought I heard somebody else, but— How did you get here?"

"I crawled through a web of underground air ducts." Rose petals floated towards my body, reassembling my removed finger. I pressed my back against the bookshelf soon afterward, dismissing my Stand to heal up. As much as I want to peer around the corner, the bits of bullets flying past us is a good enough reason to not try that. "But enough of that. Where's everybody else?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. We all split up when the table we were stuck behind got destroyed. They're most likely still in the library since the girl in the turtleneck is currently in front of the entrance."

A groan tried to escape my mouth, only to be suppressed. Well, that made things a little more difficult. I have to go look for them. And yeah, while it's true that I can survive the sheer volume of bullets Coco is sending at us… I really don't want to get shot. And geez, these bullets sting! Rose flickered back into sight. "Well, okay then. Here's the thing: Weiss is going to summon an orange Dust Crystal and create a bunch of cover for us. The second you see the crystal go up, start running towards it. I'll be right behind you."

Nolan sighed. "How do you get into all of these situations—"

Bullets stopped whizzing past us as a giant Dust crystal appeared out of the ground between Coco and us. It was a wall that shielded all of the bookcases from gunfire. Bits of crystal shards flew as the structure swallowed every round that slammed into its being. "Go!" I pushed out, running through the improvised hallway and towards the rest of the bookshelves. I'm not sure how much abuse the crystal can take. Hopefully enough so that I can warn everybody else. My eyes darted frantically in their search for the rest of the Stand users. They have to be here somewhere. My heart started beating faster as my search proved fruitless. There are only shelves! Where could two people hide?

My feet slid across the floor to a halt. A giant wall of books blocked one of the aisles stacked end to end. Despite how unstable it looks, the books somehow remained upright. "Wait," a male voice whispered. "Someone's in front of us. No… That can't be Coco. She's still firing the gun." He spoke out a little louder. "Who's there?"

"Oh, thank gods!" I wiped my forehead. "Is that you, Fox?"

"Huh? You sound really familiar… The name's on the tip of my tongue." A hand shot up into the air and waved around. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the leader of team RWBY, right?"

I nodded. "Yep! I'm Ruby."

He snapped his fingers. "Right! You were the girl who helped Velvet to the nurse after she had that allergic reaction! It was weird when we learned that she developed a reaction towards carrots. If you want to know, she was crushed when she learned that, but she's getting better. Still, can't believe she just developed an allergy to something she loved so much." He sighed. "Sorry, going off-topic again. But were you a part of the group moving underground?"

"How did you— yes." I scratched my head. He already figured out what we were doing? "There's a way out through the air ducts that is relatively safe."

"Okay then. See, Gwen? It's just like I said. There's a pathway to escape a building underground."

I heard a scoff. "How is it my fault that I can't exactly confirm what you said? We've known each other for an hour at most." She sighed. "Well, at least we can still use this book wall to survive the swarm of bullets."

The moment she said that the trail of bullets flew straight up, piercing the ceiling above them. "And there's Blake with the chokehold." I grinned. "I don't think you're going to need that wall of dictionaries anymore."

"Aww man!" The stack started falling towards me, forcing me to step to the side with a yelp. Instead of falling apart like I expected, it just plopped flat on the ground, staying whole the entire time. Behind the literature were Gwen and Fox. The girl in the purple dress rubbed her eyes. "You guys suck! This wall could've worked, and it would've been awesome!"

Fox sighed. "Again, using books would only stop throwing knives. I've tried it myself, you know. A stack of books won't even come close to stopping one bullet, let alone six thousand rounds per minute. Whatever protection you actually get will be gone in maybe two seconds." He held up his hand when Gwen made to speak. "And before you say anything about your knives and their penetration power, note that you had to modify them to be that good. Sorry, but common knives can't go through a textbook."

"Which is why my knives use Dust for elemental hits! But that's not the point!" My eyes glanced back at the stream of fire. The rounds were cutting a hole in the roof! Granted, the hole's not above us, so that's a relief. Still, it's scary to think about just how much destruction Coco's gun can cause if she didn't have any control over herself. "I'm supposed to hinder the combatants while everybody else runs in and takes them down! Same thing for the wall! It's designed to—"

"Quiet down for a moment." I held my hand out. "The minigun stopped firing." Does that mean that—? "Blake? Is everything good?"

"Having a bit of difficulty," my teammate called out. "I got her to drop the gun, but well… I messed up my chokehold. It's not going to change anything, but it's going to take longer." A silence enveloped the room. "Can you— ugh! Coco, stay still. It's for the best of everyone. Sorry, can you grab her gun and get it away from us? I don't she's going to escape, but I would feel more at ease if nobody else could get access to it."

I started towards the crystal wall. "Is it safe?"

"Safe enough." A grunt escaped from Blake's mouth. "It's going to take a while until she's knocked out."

"Okay then." I stuck my head out from my cover. It's like what Blake said. Both girls were on the ground. Coco waved her hands behind her, trying to pry the faunus girl off while Blake kept her arm wrapped around her neck as she struggled with the weight on her. The fashionista's weapon lay less than a meter away from the two.

There was no time to waste! In an instant, I snatched the weapon… and nearly fell over as I took my first step. Oh gods, this was heavy! What in the world— How does Coco carry something like this around all the time? Even Crescent Rose wasn't this heavy! Just… why? Sweat ran down my face, my arms burned in fury over dragging one weapon away from everybody. "Weiss, you gotta help me!" I cried. "This is ridiculously heavy!"

My partner's head popped out from the air duct, her face with a raised eyebrow. "Really? I thought swinging around that oversized garden tool would make it easy for you to carry heavy stuff."

"Just get over here!" I swear my face was starting to turn red, and I'm not sure if it's from exertion or embarrassment. "Please?"

She sighed. "Give me a moment." With a grunt, she slipped out from her hiding spot and ran up to me and supported the barrel end of the gun. "But Ruby. I swear, if you somehow manage to shoot me while we're dragging this around—"

"It won't happen! I promise! I've already activated the safety mechanism! Plus the trigger's right here on the top! So we just to hold it like we're carrying a box or something and we'll be completely fine!"

Weiss shook her head, rolling her eyes at my reaction. Still, together we managed to carry the weapon across the room and dropped it behind one of the overturned tables. "Whew!" I wiped my brow. "I do not want to be carrying that! Blake, is Coco down now?"

"Woah!" I turned to see Coco on her feet, stumbling around. Blake hung from her back like a backpack, swinging around to drag the girl back down. "Not the right time to— ugh!" The fashionista slammed Blake into a bookshelf. Despite that, my teammate held on. Blake shook her head, slamming her hand against some kind of encyclopedia. It sank into the heavy tome. With a grunt, she slammed it into Coco's temple. And just like that, the second-year student crumpled.

"Huh," Blake noted as she got off of the unconscious girl. The book fell straight to the ground as she pulled out her hand. "Okay, she's down now. Everything's safe."

I nodded. "Okay, it's safe! Everybody can come out now!"

The rest of the Stand users popped out from their hiding positions. "Wow, I thought I was going to be stuck there forever," Nolan sighed as he cracked his neck. "Definitely didn't like nearly having my hand blasted off trying to direct **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** towards her."

"What?" My face twisted in confusion. "But I thought your Stand can sense emotions."

He shrugged. "Yeah. But it kinda went haywire since everybody around us has this spicy taste of anger."

It was Weiss' turn to make a face. "Did you just describe anger as spicy?"

"That's not the point! The point is that **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** senses anger in everybody, including us." The boy scratched his neck. "Thing is, I don't really have a good explanation for why we're not affected by this… anger. It's not really clicking."

"Hmm…" I placed my chin on my hand. What could this mean? "I don't think that's an important thing to worry about. Here's the thing: the Headmaster found who is causing all of this. My team and I are going to meet with one of the other Stand users to try and stop the person. The problem's the crowd outside. It's going to take way too long for us to get over there with the crowd in the way. But you guys." I glanced at the three users. "All of you guys can help us with your Stands. I know you guys don't want to be part of this Arrow hunting thing, but could you guys do a favor for us?"

Nolan sighed. "Hmm… maybe? Alright, fine. It's either this or sitting here until something happens." The other two nodded as well.

"Great! Then we're going through the front door!" I started towards it. Everybody else followed close behind on our quest to backup Jaune. A small part of me hopes that he can survive long enough for us to get over to him.

* * *

I gripped my wind leaf tighter as the crowd started to surround me. Okay, I'm really not liking my odds right now. A dull rumble escaped from everybody's throats as they picked up various items lying around. This… really isn't going to go well for me if I stay here. Yeah, my Stand power can pin all of these guys to the ground, but with so many people here, I'm going to get overrun!

While I still have the wind leaf, I'm not sure how long I can use it until Russel— no, until  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** figures out my plan and puts a stop to it somehow. Maybe I could stall until I can get team RWBY over here… But then again. I looked back where I came from. My Stand ability isn't going to last forever. I don't know when, but they're bound to get back up and follow me here, putting me in a pincer attack! Plus, the students on the other side have their weapons on them. There's no way I could pull out my Stand without getting shot in the back!

No, I have to take care of this Stand right now. I leaned down and snatched a fistful of pebbles to the left of me. This should be more than enough to take down Russel. The biggest problem with him is that he has a giant army that's willing to rip me to shreds. However, I saw the size of his Stand. It's so small! While it might be possible for other Stands to punch away a projectile,  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** is in no condition to defend itself or its user. All I need is a clean shot and nobody jumping to intercept it! … All while avoiding the giant crowd coming to rip me apart. It sounds a lot harder now that I actually think about it.

_"What's wrong, Jauney boy?"_  I gritted my teeth as the cheeky Stand moved its mouth in mock laughter.  _"Desperate enough to use stones against this massive crowd? Couldn't use your sword like a real man?"_

My face didn't change. I held my leaf out, glancing into the eyes of each and every student here. I managed to find CRDL in the crowd. As much as I didn't like them, they had gotten better as people in general. It's so sad to see them act like this again. "You're cowardly enough to get other people to beat me up. That seems like an unmanly thing to do, if I say so myself."

The toddler Stand chuckled.  _"Well, there's a difference, Jauney boy. You see, I'm not quite a man. I'm an ethereal being beyond the comprehension of most Remnans."_

I shook my head. "Yeah, I can see that. But here's the thing,  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** I'm not above doing whatever it takes to save everyone I love." My eyes dipped towards a stone-faced Cardin. "Back during the Forever Falls field trip… I put my life on the line for my partner. I then killed an Ursa Major to save your leader's life. The thing is, I could've let him get hurt. He did deserve it after all he put me through. However, I didn't. Instead, I gave him a clear message."

_"Oh? And what's that?"_

"Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again." I readied a pebble, increasing its density. "Guess what? You decided it was a good time to mess with my teammates. My friends are in danger because of you. And you know what that means."

A pixelated frown grew on the Stand's face before it let out a fierce static noise.  _"Get him!"_

A uniform roar escaped from the crowd right as I swung the leaf. The sea of students split into two. Several Huntsmen-in-Training let out yelps of surprise as they found themselves being blown away. There was nothing but a clear line of sight between me and Russel. Bingo. The pebble let out a whistle, splitting through the air in a direct path towards the statue.

Both  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** and Russel let out a grunt as the mohawked boy jerked out of the way. Instead of striking the boy's chest like I intended, the shot collided with his arm, passing right through. A small spurt of blood escaped from the open wound, dripping down Russel's pale skin.  _"Agh!"_  The Stand looked at the wound before taking on an emoji frowny face.  _"You… little, insignificant piece of human garbage!"_

With the Stand's words, everybody got back up. Pure hatred radiated from their eyes as they gripped their improvised weapons even harder.  _"Kill him! He's going to kill us all if we don't kill him!"_  With that, they charged me with abandon. I felt my mouth go dry. There's no way I can survive against this. I have to retreat to a new position before trying this again. I poured a few pebbles into my pocket before throwing the rest of the pebbles. The rest of the crowd crashed into the buckshot, stumbling or straight up falling. This is my chance!

I swung the leaf again, blowing away most of the crowd. They didn't go as far as I hoped they would. Only ten or so meters away from their original location. But hopefully knocking them over will be enough to buy me a couple of seconds. My hands snatched the pocket pebbles and fired them off, all heading towards the boy with the mohawk.

_"No!"_  Russel's daggers flew out from his sides. My eyes widened. Wait a moment… is that a Dust cylinder on each of his— With a flick of his wrist, an ice barrier formed in front of him. The pebbles landed soon after, digging deep into the makeshift dense, but not quite piercing it. I grit my teeth. Of course the Stand is going to do its best to protect itself. Should've expected that to happen. But why would Russel have his weapons on him? Maybe it was to do a performance. But what can someone do with twin daggers? Blade dance?

_"Argh!"_  The face of **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** was absolutely livid.  _"I'll kill you! You three, shoot him!"_  His words gave me pause. Shoot him? But nobody has a gun except for the people I passed earlier. … Oh gods! I twisted myself around, increasing the density of the leaf and held it in front of me. The unmistakable sound of discharging Dust boomed milliseconds later. Little pockmarks dented the leaf moments later, coming close to bursting, yet my cover didn't fail.

I withdrew my Stand for a moment, taking a peek above the leaf. The emerald eyes of Pyrrha stared back, pointing her rifle at me. The friendliness I used to know in her eyes were gone, replaced with a murderous glare. She must've been one of the people who called for her weapons earlier. But if that's true, then what happened to Ren and Nora? Did they— I almost choked. Did Pyrrha—?

The leaf flew back up again when I saw a green and pink flash dash past my partner. Stormflower's submachine rounds made several more dents within the leaf before I heard the familiar thump of a Nora special. A couple of blinks later I found myself drifting in the air, soaring across the plaza. I crashed into the ground moments later, knocking the air out of my lungs as I was sent rolling. Holy— they're alive! The plaza didn't kill them after all!

My face hardened up as I rolled myself back up to a standing position. But if they're all here, then— Oh gods. The sick monster! Is he really planning on making me fight against my team?

**「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** cackled.  _"Oh, so you figured it out, Jauney boy."_  The toddler clapped its hands.  _"That deserves a round of applause! Team JNPR is all here again! Now it's time to break them apart for good this time. It would be pretty funny to see you get crushed by the very people that you claim to defend, wouldn't it?"_  I shot a glare at the cheeky Stand. _"Oh? Why the long face, Jaune? Is it hard, seeing your teammates stand against you? I thought you wanted to come at me. So what are you waiting for?"_

"You… little!" I stuck my hand into my pocket, only to find nothing inside. I paled. Did I already use all of the pebbles I took earlier? … Oh gods, this isn't good. I gritted my teeth as I stared at the trio in front of me. These guys were the fighters of the team. People who could take on Grimm in several different ways. A group of people I was honestly jealous of back when I first started. I've always wanted to be powerful like them. I'm still trying to. And I have to fight against all of them.

I tightened my grip. No. I'm not going to fight them today. Not just because these guys will kill me if I do. They matter too much for me to even think of doing that. I swung the wind leaf to blow them away, only to have them stumble only a couple of steps. Huh? What's going on? Why didn't it work? It should've sent them flying away!

_"Hehehe… HAHAHAHA!"_  The toddler Stand giggled at my plight.  _"Did you really think that I wouldn't try to do something about that leaf? To be honest, I didn't expect you to find a leaf that could make a current in the air. It was a major pain to see my people fly away with a single swing, so I made sure that it was no longer perfect at compressing air. Look at its surface."_  I did. Wait a minute… the pockets made by the bullets! He tricked me into blocking with the leaf with my teammates, and when I did so, he made my strategy ineffective! My stomach twisted as I stared at the useless plant in my hands. That's not good… I gotta end it as soon as possible!

He let out a snort as I turned my head towards the decorative pile of gravel.  _"I can't let you try a stunt like that again."_  Nora loaded another round into Magnhild. What in the— what was she doing? Is she going to fire another round at me the moment I make a break for the pebbles? But if I stay still, I'm surely going to get shot or attacked by either Ren or Pyrrha! I have to figure out a way around that. The hyperactive redhead turned around and aimed the grenade launcher directly at the pile of gravel. A gasp escaped my mouth. She's going to—

_"Do it."_  Nora fired a grenade round soon after those words left his mouth. A yelp escaped my mouth as I watched the grenade soar across the plaza, landing right dab in the middle of the pile of rocks. I held the leaf up to my face right as the grenade went off, shielding me from the debris that came flying towards us. No way… did the Stand just—? I looked up. Dread climbed up my throat as the pile of pebbles was blown up into unusable powder. And just like that, all of my hopes have been blown to pieces. Literally.

_"HAHAHAHA!"_  At this point **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** was laughing nonstop.  _"You should see the look on your face! There was this hint of desperation and hope when you were— hehe, when you were looking at the stones and it's so funny watching the hope die in your eyes!"_  Everybody else stood silent as the Stand continued having his fit of laughter.  _"Don't you see it now, Jaune? You're screwed! There's nothing left for you to use against me! I win! Me! To think that you even had a chance is just too— HAHAHAHA!"_  I felt a vein swell up on my forehead. My gods, was he ever going to stop laughing?

_"But Jaune, Jaune."_  A windmill-esque hand wiped against the Stand's nonexistent brow. _"You wanna know the best part about all this? You're going to die to your teammates! Your last memories on this world won't be of Grimm ripping your insides out or you dying alone, but it's going to be the image of your teammates, your friends breaking your body to the point of no return and then past that. Agonized screams will escape your lungs as the people you love hack, blast, and smash you into pieces. It's over."_

I felt my breath hitch. He might be right. I couldn't hold my own against any of my teammates in a fair fight. How am I going to win against three of them at the same time? Without hurting them no less. It's clear that the Stand can pick up things quickly, which means fine-tuning is out of the question. I need something that works well and works immediately. Hmm… I might be able to buy time if I just increased their density again. Just one problem: they all have their guns out. Crocea Mors can block Dust rounds well. It survived a Nora grenade, after all. But there's no way I could reach one of them without somebody shooting me.

My fist clenched, causing the leaf within it to tremble. I can't use the leaf to blow them away either, not that far anyway. Now that was a surprise to me. Its specific shape is important to how it can generate powerful gusts of wind, even with the Wind Dust inside it? What kind of tree did we have at Beacon that can do that? But with the little dents within it… there's no way this thing could do anything about my teammates!

There's one thing I'm relieved about though: the rest of the crowd isn't attacking. Instead, they're mainly congregating at the exits, reveling in the battle to come. **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** is more arrogant than I thought. On one hand, just Team JNPR is more than enough to take me down. On the other hand, I don't have to be worried about getting overwhelmed by hundreds of people. Now I can just worry about being overwhelmed by three of them. At this point, it might be best to stall until Ruby and the others get here. I don't have any other options to stop Russel's Stand.

Something stirred inside of me as I glanced at the leaf. Wait a minute… maybe I do. It's just going to need a little bit of preparation. I flipped the leaf around, holding it more like an ice-pick. My other hand reached for my sword, causing the TV screen to display a disturbing smiley face.  _"So you've settled on your fate? It's as I planned. You're no better than the rest of us, hypocrite."_  I ignored his smug gloat, unsheathing my sword and pointing it at my partner. He scoffed.  _"Well, if you're not going to respond, then let's just get to your death!"_

I held my blade in a guarded position as I watched my partner step forwards, her spear transforming into its sword form. It might be better going against Pyrrha than any of the other guys. Months of training on the roof with her taught me most of her moves. I can at least predict what she will do. That should buy me enough time to do what I need to do. Let's just hope that her anger isn't going to affect her fighting style in any way.

With her lips pressed together in a tight line, she bounded towards me, opening our duel with a lightning-fast strike. I gritted my teeth as it clanged against my sword. So fast! It's like I got struck by an Ursa, if the Ursa was hopped up on caffeine! In an instant, I backed away to avoid the follow-up strike. I don't think she's holding back this time. She's actually going to kill me if I make a single mistake. A bitter taste sat on my tongue. I knew she was holding back whenever we trained on the roof, but I didn't think it would be that much!

Whelp, time for the actual plan. I charged in, letting out a hoarse yell as I raised my sword up high. Seeing this, Pyrrha widened her stance and held her sword to the side. A counter. I've never been able to successfully get past one of her parries. But at the same time… she's only used a single parry on most opponents, preferring to either dodge or block incoming attacks. I grinned. Perfect.

Right as I reached her, I switched hands, swinging my leaf right at her instead. Normally something like this would surprise Pyrrha. Instead, she swung her sword despite my action, slicing through the leaf and towards my face. My head jerked back, allowing the sword to fly above my face in exchange for some hairs. Ahh! Geez, I swear that Pyrrha could become a barber considering how much of my bangs she's sliced off with her counters.

Pyrrha immediately followed through, forcing me to block with the leaf, losing another part of it. Bit by bit the green foliage fell away, cutting down my protection even further. I kept a straight face through all of this as a rounded corner started forming along one of the clear parts of the plant. A sweat drop fell down my face. How long do I have until the Stand figures out what I'm trying to do? Not much, most likely. I have to finish this up real soon.

Right as my partner was doing an overhead swing, I parried at an angle. It was… ineffective, to say the least. Milo sank into my leaf just like that, only stopping right before it hit the stem. With a growl, I twisted my weapon in an attempt to disarm her. It didn't work too well. Instead of ripping the weapon out of her hands, Milo slipped out, slicing out a major chunk of the leaf and slamming into my left arm.

I let out a howl as I felt Milo cleave through my tricep before stopping close to the bone. The burst of pain nearly made me drop the leaf in the process. But still I held on to the plant. My Stand started reducing the mass of Pyrrha's weapon, and with a grunt I twisted my body, bending the blade into a half spiral. I kicked her off me a moment later, freeing my arm from the sword. Everything started to blur at the edges of my vision. How much blood was I losing? The drops of blood started collecting near the ground. A lot, most likely.

Good news: I think I rendered Milo useless for now. Pyrrha might have a Semblance of polarity, but she isn't capable of twisting metal back into its original shape. At least I've never seen it used that way. I might have lost all sensation in my left arm, but I also bent Milo to the point that it's useless. The edge alignment was messed up now that I bent the blade, and the mechashift mechanisms must've been damaged enough so that she can't use it as a gun. She isn't in any position to kill me.

Ren and Nora stepped forwards. But the other two are. I looked at the leaf in my bloody hand. At this point, all I had was the stem and a length of the body in the shape of an open angle finder. That's good enough, I guess. I took a couple of steps back, using Crocea Mors to round out the sharp corners of the leaf before slicing the stem off. A smile crawled up my face as I tossed aside my weapon and picked up my cut-out.

**「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** let out a hum of confusion. _"Huh? What was the point of all that? You allow your partner to slice up your best defense, have her nearly cleave your arm off… just for a funny shape?"_

"Oh, not just a funny shape." I felt the leaf cut-out grow dense. "It's this funny shape!"

I threw what remained of the leaf towards Russel. His eyes widened at the wide, sweeping arc my weapon took.  _"What the— You were planning this the whole entire time?! You were making a weapon out of the leaf?"_

"That's right!" My left thumb pressed hard against the leftover stem as I jabbed my hand towards him. "And you let my partner carve it out for me!"

_"You—! I'll just—"_   **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** made Russel flick through the Dust cylinder, ready to light it up… and then my weapon missed him by a wide margin. Oh… I bit my lip as the both of us stared at the leaf flying off to the side. The Stand blinked once, then twice before bursting into laughter.  _"What the— You missed! You spent all of that time creating a weapon to throw at me only to miss? HAHAHAHA! Jaune, you're stupider than I thought! That is true naivety to go through all this and—"_  A rumble escaped my throat. **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** stopped gloating.  _"Huh?"_

His response, as well as the dumb face he made, was just too much. I broke out into laughter.  _"What the— Why are you laughing?"_  He made a pixelly angry face at me, which did nothing but make me laugh even harder.  _"Hey! This isn't funny! Why in the world are you laughing? You're going to die, and you think this is the perfect time to laugh?"_

"No!" I wiped a tear from the side of my eye. My thumbs were cutting up the stem in my laughter induced insanity, creating a bunch of tiny cylinders in my hand. "If anything, I won! Did you pay attention to the shape of the thing I just threw at you? Have you ever heard of a boomerang,  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** It's an ancient tool used for hunting back before Dust rounds were created. You know why? They can return and hit a target from behind without them noticing."

_"What the— liar!"_  The Stand made Russel stand up. _"That's impossible! It's a clear day without any wind! Boomerangs only work when there's wind to carry it back!"_

"And what do you think the boomerang's made out of?"  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** froze in place at that. I jabbed a finger towards the figure on the statue. "You said it yourself! The leaf can create its own current! It's going to return no matter what!"

The Stand displayed a furious face.  _"Why you—It's not going to matter if I can just stop it with ice Dust!"_  It turned around as it made Russel thumb the activation mechanism.  _"I'll just freeze it with another ice—"_

I condensed all of the cut up stem pieces before firing every single one of them into Russel's back. A gasp escaped from both Stand and user as the majority made their mark, ripping through the skin with little effort. Each hole I punctured into their back released a small fountain of blood, staining the famous statue red. Russel stumbled, falling to all fours. I took a sharp breath. Did I do it? Is that enough to knock them out?

Both the Stand and him twitched, causing me to flinch. Dread filled my chest as they looked at me with pure fury.  _"You…"_

The sounds of submachine gun fire registered in my ears. A second later, I coughed out blood as several rounds entered my body. I collapsed to the ground, withdrawing my Stand in order to heal my wounds. My golden yellow Aura surrounded me, causing me to wince as it forcibly pulled my flesh back together. Gods, why did I forget about the rest of my team? Still, I have a fourth of my Aura left, although that's decreasing. The second I can use my legs again, I'll just get up and—

An explosion sent me flying, shattering my Aura in the process. Another bloody cough escaped my mouth as I landed hard. I can feel the last droplets of Aura fade away, leaving me without any protection. Ooh… agh! I wasn't finished healing my wounds… My hands pressed against the flesh wounds. They're a lot more shallow though. Can I still move? I lifted my arm before pain made its greeting. I winced. Yes, but not nearly fast enough to get away. I lifted my head to see Nora walking towards me, loading another grenade round into the chamber. My fingers ran across the chipped ground.

_"I'm going to enjoy watching you explode into a paste,"_   **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** hissed as Nora shoved the barrel of Magnhild into my face.  _"Got any last words before your teammate decorates the floor with your guts?"_

I turned towards Russel to give  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** one last defiant stare. If I'm going to die, at least I'll die on my own terms— Oh wait. A smile crawled up my face. "Yup. What goes around comes around." I tapped the barrel of the grenade launcher. "Boop."

The Stand squinted in confusion.  _"Okay, I have no idea what you're even trying to—"_  He couldn't finish his sentence as the boomerang smashed  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** in the back of the head, cracking his TV face. I made a face of surprise. What the— A grunt escaped from Russel as a similar crack formed on his face. The toddler Stand faded away right as the mohawked boy fell to the ground, landing on the stage with a plop. The rest of the students started collapsing right after that. I stared in amazement. It's like watching loggers cutting down a ton of trees at once!

Nora herself started wavering, dropping her weapon before falling forwards. A muffled groan escaped from my mouth as she landed on me, pinning my body to the ground. Oh gods, help! That wasn't supposed to happen! I wanna get out now! I relaxed though. Then again, the fact that Nora is unconscious means I won.  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** won't hurt any more people. I glanced at the boomerang that helped me win the battle. Wow, I expected the boomerang to come back, but not to hit the Stand. I was hoping it would come back the same way and hit Nora, buying me enough time to shoot again. I released the concrete pieces I slipped into my hands.

Hmm… I guess the wind effect was stronger than I thought it was. It worked out in the end. Also what just happened was totally according to plan. No one can and will say otherwise. I grunted, pushing against the unconscious girl on top of me. Now if only I can get Nora off of me—

"—It's surprising that everybody just fell down like this." My head jerked up at the sound of the voice. I could make out a group of six standing within the fallen crowd. Ruby combed a lock of her hair from her face as she looked at the crowd. "Do you think that Jaune managed to get the Stand user in time?"

I stuck my hand out and tried waving to them. "Over here!" I yelled, before coughing out a healthy amount of blood. Oh gods…

Everyone turned to look at me. "Huh?" Fox cocked his head. "That sounds a lot like—"

"Jaune!" Team RWBY rushed towards me, each with a look of relief on their faces. The other three took a bit more time to make it over to me, but it's clear that they're happy to see me as well. Ruby had a happy smile on her face as she kneeled down. "You're okay!"

"Yup. I managed to stop the Stand user. But before we can go on, can somebody get Nora off of me?" I pointed to my teammate. "I'm really weak right now."

"Oh! Give me a moment." I felt the weight of Nora's body lift off of me. A cough escaped my mouth as I sat up in an upright position. Ooh, my muscles are tight! I think I'm going to need something to help with the healing. I let out a sigh of relief. To think that I was that close to dying.

"Oh wow." Nolan gave me a quick glance as he came up to me. "You don't look good, Jaune. You look like your Aura broke or something. I think we should get you some medical attention, and soon."

I chuckled. "Even if I do get to the nurse's office, I don't think she's going to be available for a while. She's probably like everybody else right now."

"You're still bleeding, though," Blake noted. "We're going to need Aura boosters right now." She hummed to herself as she looked around. "Does anyone remember where they kept the first-aid stuff around here?"

Ruby shook her head. "I don't know, but I can rush to the infirmary and just grab a couple! It's going to be a quick trip with my Semblance!" She started stepping back. "It'll be a quick trip, so just stay there guys! I'll be back before you know it!" Before we could say anything, she zipped away, leaving behind a trail of rose petals.

Everybody stood silent for a moment before Gwen coughed into her hand. "Uh, while it's nice to know that the girl's got this, shouldn't we stop the bleeding first? Just in case the boosters take longer than usual to work?"

Fox snapped his fingers. "I remember Yatsu telling me about how villagers outside the kingdoms tend to cauterize their wounds whenever they got hurt. Bleeding stops almost immediately, and the burn wounds will quickly fade away once Aura kicks back in." He muttered under his breath: "Would've been nice to know when I got my scars."

"Whoa, whoa whoa!" I tried backing away. "You're saying you guys are going to burn my wounds away? Isn't that going to hurt?"

"Very much." Fox turned his head in the general direction of the group. "Does anyone have any fire Dust to heat up a piece of metal?"

Weiss stepped forwards. "I do."

I paled at the sight of my former crush. "Please, Weiss! Can we do something else? I'm sure we can find something to use for bandages! Do we really have to burn the wounds?"

Myrtenaster glowed a dazzling orange once Weiss sent a wave of red Dust down the blade. "Nothing personal, Jaune. I'm trying to save your life after all." I swallowed as the red-hot blade inched closer and closer to me. My eyes clamped shut as I bit my lip, praying to every conceivable god on the planet for help.

* * *

I zipped through the school with ease. Whew! It's a lot easier to move through the school when nobody's trying to kill you! A yip of cheerfulness escaped my mouth as I hopped over several fallen bodies. Good thing Jaune managed to stop the Stand user fast enough. I don't think anybody's Aura broke, considering how there's no blood on the ground. But I should hurry. Bleeding from several wounds isn't pleasant, and who knows if that's going to affect Jaune's recovery?

The first thing I noticed about the nurse's office is that there's a clump of people surrounding the front door. Granted they were all unconscious, but it's pretty annoying how they're blocking the door from opening. I shrugged. Oh well… I guess I have the time to just pull them away. No need to destroy something this time around.

It took awhile, but I managed to get to the point where I could get one of the doors open. "Alright, now just to figure out where the Aura boosters are. Hmm… would a receptionist have some boosters in their cabinets for easy access? That would make a bit of sense if somebody's having an emergency." I let out a hum as I walked towards the receptionist desk. "It's sure to be somewhere behind— Oh my gods!"

"What the—" A mop of mint green hair jerked up, revealing Emerald's crimson eyes and a revolver-kama pointing directly at my face. "Ruby?!" She drew back the hammer. "How did you get in here with everyone banging against the door?"

"Whoa! Don't shoot!" I raised my hands up as I backed away. "Whatever happened to the other students ended a couple of minutes ago. Everybody's on the ground unconscious."

"Oh, really?" She stood up, glancing at the pile of unconscious people. "Huh. I did not expect that." She holstered her weapon. "Again, huh. That explains why it's been quiet for the past couple of minutes. I thought that everybody wizened up to me and tried to trick me into opening the door."

I let out a chuckle. "No, it's nothing like that! But anyways, what are you doing here?" She froze in place as I asked the question. I tilted my head in confusion. "I mean it's kinda weird that you would happen to be in the nurse's office on a holiday, so—"

"—Mercury has some kind of foot fungus!" Emerald bit her lip after she said that. "Oh, whoops! That didn't— I really shouldn't have… um… well this is awkward." I gave her a weird look. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay, so don't tell anyone else, but my team happened to be in the Emerald Forest when Mercury had to wade through some kind of wet bog. Uh… he had to take off his boots while doing so, and I guess he managed to get the fungus through that. I was going to… go get him some topical cream to deal with it!"

A hum escaped my mouth. "Oh… huh, that is really awkward. Kinda sucks how Aura doesn't really help against sicknesses and infections. Would make life a whole lot easier. Granted, we normally wouldn't get infections, but that's really bad luck on Mercury's part. Did you find the cream?"

She shook her head. "Kinda got occupied by the angry students before I could get the cream. But seriously, it was pretty disgusting. I thought Mercury's feet smelled, but the fungus made it so much— ow!" She winced, stepping away from the desk.

"Are you okay?"

Emerald kicked back against something. "Sorry, weird spasm. Just gotta… shake it out! Okay, maybe I should stop talking about Mercury. What are you doing here?"

"Well, there were some people hurt in the plaza, so I'm grabbing Aura boosters to help them."

"You mean these?' The dark-skinned girl held up a couple of autoinjectors.

"Yes!" I stared at the syringes. "Where did you get those?"

"Right under the desk. I didn't know what they were for, but it makes sense, I guess." She held out the tubes of medicine. "You can have them. I'm not hurt in any way."

"Hey! Thanks, Emerald!" I snatched the Aura boosters from the girl. "Anyways, I gotta go now! See ya later!" I zoomed away, leaving Emerald alone in the infirmary. Alright! Hold on Jaune! I'm coming for you!

* * *

Mercury let out a groan as he rubbed his head. "Ugh… Is the coast clear, Emerald?"

My servant nodded. "She's gone. You can come out Mercury. Cinder." I combed my hair back as the both of us emerged from our hiding spot beneath the desk.

The gray-haired boy winced, rubbing the swelling mass forming on his head. "Ow, geez Emi! You kick way too hard!"

"Oops." The girl shrugged. "I guess I forgot that it's just your legs that are prosthetics, not your head."

I decided to intervene then, stepping forwards. The two of them stopped bickering almost immediately. "I personally find it interesting that the girl happened to still be up even when all of the students are unconscious. It does confirm an important detail: she herself has been chosen by the Cupid. The question is does she have the ability that we need?" I turned towards the file cabinets on the opposite side of the room. "Likely not. We would've heard about it in the underground rumors if that was the case. But the Cupid chose Beacon for a specific reason. The person we're looking for is here somewhere. We just have to wait for the Cupid to find them and activate their Stand ability if they don't have them already." I let out a sigh. "Do we have a copy of the medical records?"

Mercury nodded, pulling out two stack of files and dropping the bigger one on the desk. "Everything we could find on every student and staff member here. Recent medical trips, personality tests, all that stuff. We kept the records for all of the confirmed users here," He waved the stack in his hand. "But we know that none of these people are who we're looking for."

My hand took the records in his hands. "I'm aware of that, Mercury. But we can still make use of this. It's Ruby and her friends that are a concern to the plan. They might just stop us in our tracks if they manage to find the Cupid. However... At the same time, I think we can take advantage of them. We know those naive fools will run towards any new Stand user. If we pay attention to their movements and get our allies to watch them, we might be able to find the person we need." I let out a chuckle as I flipped the cover over, revealing the image of Ruby on the first page.

"And once we find our person, we'll be that much closer to making this world whole again." I looked at my two companions. "Everyone, start getting all of these files downloaded. It's a lot of data to get through, and we're going to need all we can to find our person of interest." I turned to look at those smiling silver eyes. "Ruby… you might not be who we're looking for, but you just be the person we need to bring justice to this broken society."

**TO BE CONTINUED= November 24, 2017**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand Descriptions:
> 
> 「FEEL GOOD INC」- User can influence the emotions of everyone around him. With enough of a push, the user can galvanize a crowd into acting on their emotions without any awareness of their actions. The stronger the emotions, the harder they'll act. However, as emotions get stronger, the user starts losing control of the crowd.
> 
> Song References: Russel Thrush's 「FEEL GOOD INC」was inspired by the band Gorillaz's Feel Good Inc. It's an alternative rock/alternative hip-hop song originally released in 2005. Now I chose this song because of its beat. It feels mellow, hopeless and despairing in a sense while getting erratic and manic at times. The music video, in particular, was something that stuck with me, especially the scene with 2-D walking through the crowd just basking in pure carnal desire. The Stand's ability is inspired by the rapper on the screen in the Feel Good Inc music video. The actual actions of the crowd were inspired by the church scene in Kingsmen.


	24. From the Inside

"AAAGH!" I yelled as I felt the side of Weiss' sword press against a bullet wound on my thigh. My leg started flailing at the hot object on me. The blood leaking out from the hole sizzled and boiled, and I swore I could feel my flesh charring.

"Jaune, hold still!" Nolan let out a grunt as I tried to wiggle myself away from Weiss' rapier. He held my legs down, preventing me from moving anywhere. "Look, we don't want to cause more damage than we need to. Just bear with us right now. There are still a couple of bullet holes to deal with!"

"But it hurts so much!" I bit my lip, taking deep breaths as Weiss pulled her sword away. A tear ran down the side of my face. My hand reached for the already scorched sword slash on my arm. Oh my gods… How do survivalists muscle through this process, even if it's just for a couple seconds? Just how?

"Sorry Jaune," Fox sighed. "Wished we had some painkillers to help, but there's nothing we can do to stop the pain. But look at the bright side. I don't think we're going to need to cauterize any more bullet holes. I can sense your Aura starting to pick back up. Not enough to heal all of your wounds, but enough that Aura boosters can jump start it. Ruby should be coming with some any time now." The boy nodded. "That's surprisingly fast. Most people would need more time to recover their Aura."

"I guess I have my massive reserves to thank. But whew." My head plopped back to the ground as I let out a long sigh. "Thank the gods. I do not want to go through that again." My mind wandered as I stared at the wispy clouds. "It doesn't make sense. Who would have enough courage to burn themselves just so they could stop the bleeding?"

Fox plopped down right next to me. "Well, it's a dangerous world out there with the Grimm hunting us down. Maybe burning yourself is like a tool to increase morale. You show to other people that you're not willing to die, that you'll hurt yourself to show that determination. I've been to the villages outside of the kingdoms before, and morale is one of the most important things a small town needs to survive. If enough people doubt their ability to stay alive, well you can say goodbye to the village."

"Hmm…" I mulled over what Fox said. In a way, he's right. In any Grimm attack, it's more important to believe you're going to live than how prepared you actually are. Several Huntsmen, people trained to counter the Grimm, have fallen in battles because they ran out of willpower and just gave up. And for the villagers, they don't even have combat training on their side! All that's going for them is their will to live. And if that wavers…

A voice screamed through the air. "I'm back!" Moments later I was hit by a cloud of rose petals. I coughed and wheezed, brushing the petals away from me. Ruby reappeared out from the mass of rose petals, looking at the tubes in her hand. "Okay, I found the Aura boosters. They're just emergency doses, but that might be enough to heal the wounds."

The blind boy nodded as he stretched his arm in the general direction of my friend. "Thank you, Ruby. Can you hand one to me?" The reaper girl nodded, pressing one into the palm of his hand. "Okay, let's see if I remember how to use this." He clicked his tongue a couple of times as his fingers fumbled against the tip. "Take off the cap." I heard a popping noise. "Locate the thigh— the uninjured one, of course. Okay Jaune, this might be a little awkward, so bear with me for a moment."

I yelped as I felt his hand tap against the side of my leg. Fox was being a bit rough with feeling my leg for the ideal location of injecting the boosters. He muttered to himself: "Was there anything important to note about the thigh? Hmm… I think I just need to hit the major muscles. This feels muscular enough." He pressed the injector on the side of my leg. "Alright. I'm going to press this in and hold it there for five seconds. Don't remove the syringe even after that count, okay?"

Before I could say anything, he jabbed the Aura booster into my leg. I gasped as I felt my Aura flared up. I felt energy surge through me. Whoa… I winced moments later. The exposed bullet holes started shrinking, sending waves of pain swimming throughout my body as my Aura worked overtime. I can feel new skin growing over my burn wounds as well. Fox tapped me in the face a couple of times. "Keep taking deep breaths, Jaune. Relax. You're going to be okay now."

"Whew… okay." I groaned as I sat up. My Aura's still really weak, but at least the bullet holes were fading away. I looked at my hoodie, causing me to wince. Aw man! It's all ripped up and full of holes! What other hoodies could I wear under my armor? Man, maybe I should take Ruby's suggestion to keep designs of my clothing and buy in bulk. Maybe I can go to get it patched up, now that I think about it. But oh man… this was a really comfortable hoodie.

"Hey, Jaune?" I looked up. Blake kneeled at the body of my partner, leaning over her. "I think everyone's starting to wake back up. Pyrrha's stirring right now."

"Really?" I hopped back up to my feet and staggered forwards. The injector jerked around, wiggling the needle within my thigh. I grabbed the canister and held it in. "Did anything serious happen to her?"

"No, it looks like her Aura held up the entire time." The girl in black stood back up, turning to look at me. "No injuries that I can see." Internally, I let out a sigh of relief. People most likely got injured while  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** was active. It's a good thing to know that at least Pyrrha wasn't one of them.

I looked at the rest of the group. "And the rest of my team?"

This time Weiss answered from a distance. "Ren's fine. But aren't you next to Nora? Couldn't you see for yourself?" … Oh yeah, that's right.

"Ugh… Jaune?" I turned around to see the hyperactive redhead sitting upright, rubbing her head. Her face twisted in confusion. "How did I get here? I mean I remember standing by the water fountain with Ren and talking about how you were late, but then everything started getting all narrow and dark and I couldn't focus and— and I can't remember how I got here. It's like there's something missing from my memories." Nora rubbed her forehead. "What happened, Jaune?"

"It's… complicated." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I don't really have a lot of time to explain. But the short answer is that— um… Okay, I can't explain the short answer. That's also too complicated. But the point I'm trying to make is that you didn't get the chance to apologize to Pyrrha yet."

She paled at that. "What? I didn't? Oh gods, then what am I doing here right now? I have to do that right now!" Nora shot up to her feet. "Where is she? Oh my gods, I can't believe I didn't apologize for her for my mistake!"

A soft cough escaped from my partner. We both looked over to see Pyrrha pushing herself up to a seated position, rubbing her head as she winced. "... Huh? Blake? Is that you?" The girl in the bow nodded. The Mistralian girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What in the world? How did I get over here? I swore earlier I was at the fountain talking to—"

"Pyrrha!" The hyperactive redhead stumbled towards her teammate as I followed close behind. "Pyrrha, I have to tell you something!"

"Nora…" My partner pushed herself up. Her legs wobbled a bit, straining to support her weight. "You don't have to. I've said some really bad things to you yesterday, and I'm willing to take responsibility for what I've done—!"

Before Pyrrha could say any more, Nora clamped down on the girl, bringing the two together into an embrace. "Shh… That doesn't… It doesn't excuse what I did. I didn't mean to destroy your only reminder of your dog." A big sniffle escaped from the valkyrie. "And while it's really hazy, there's some stuff that's— that's popping into my mind right now and I— I said some mean stuff myself back at the fountain. I don't even know why I was saying it, but I get that your dog was really important to you and I didn't mean to disrespect that and—"

"It's fine, Nora." Pyrrha awkwardly wrapped her hands around the girl, reciprocating the hug. "Luna meant a lot to me, but that didn't excuse me hurting you. I didn't want to push away my best friend for something you did by accident. So I'm sorry as well, and— and I hope this doesn't affect our relationship as friends."

Another sniffle escaped Nora's mouth as she buried her face into Pyrrha's shoulder. "Thank you. I'll make it up to you, Pyrrha, I promise. Once we can go back to the city, we can go down and get some art supplies to fix up your dog's shrine."

My partner smiled. "That would be nice."

"I can also make you apology pancakes right now! We'll go to our room and I can pull out the secret pancake mix that I've been saving for so long! Let's settle our issues with some apology food!" I paled at the thought of that. Isn't that the one Ren said was…? I turned to look at the boy, who was blinking his eyes rapidly. I think he just woke up recently. "Hey Renny!"

The boy snapped to his friend almost immediately. "Huh— I mean yes Nora?"

"Are you ready for the biggest pancake cook-off Beacon has ever seen?" The two girls let go of each other as Nora wiped the tears away, bouncing towards her partner. "Oh man, this is going to be the best! Pancake towers piercing the heavens above! Hey Ruby. Is your team up for pancakes today?"

"Of course!" The girl smiled, not knowing of the horrors that were about to hit her. "I would love to get pancakes with the rest of— Oh my gods!" She slapped the sides of her face. "I forgot about Yang! She's still probably tied up in the training room!"

Pyrrha arched her eyebrows in confusion. "... What?"

"I have to get her out!" Ruby's face flushed as she paced around. "Sorry guys, but I need to untie my sister and deal with all of that. We'll see if we can make it in time. Bye!" She zoomed away yet again, leaving her teammates behind.

Blake and Weiss sighed. "What a dunce…" Weiss muttered. "Well, we're going to chase after Ruby now. So if you don't mind, we'll be going now."

"Wait!" I stuck my hand out. "You can't just leave us here!"

"Sorry, Jaune." Blake shrugged as she walked away. "But we need to deal with our problems first. We'll see you later, then."

The monochrome duo walked away, leaving Team JNPR, Nolan, Gwen, and Fox standing around. Nora cupped her hands. "If you want to come, we'll be in the kitchen close to our dorm rooms! I'll see you guys later!" She let off a big grin as she turned back towards us. Now I wish I was still being burned. The redhead gave us a smile. "So who's ready to make a masterpiece?"

* * *

"Headmaster Ozpin." I stared at the Council before me on the screen within my office. Even with the blurry outline of the three individuals sitting around the table, I could still feel a sense of… confusion and hostility within each of the individuals. The leader amongst the three coughed into his hand. "Our colleague here described an extraordinary scene that occurred on your premises not one hour ago."

The sun started dipping towards the horizon as we had this emergency meeting. I sighed. So soon after the rest of the Stand users stopped… I believe they said it was Mr. Thrush from accidentally destroying the student body. The poor boy. Out of all of the students that could be affected by the Arrow, I didn't expect him to be chosen. But then again, he's very persistent whenever it comes to fighting when he really puts his mind to it. So it does make a bit of sense to a certain degree. But back to this conversation… I knew I was supposed to expect this, but it's never a pleasant feeling actually going through it.

All three of the shadowy figures shifted their weight in their seats. "Now, according to him, during your meeting with him about the Vytal Festival, Ms. Goodwitch started acting oddly, insisting on leaving the meeting to deal with some troublesome students. Within a few minutes, all of the staff members started fighting each other, including General Ironwood: a representative of Atlas. You were the only one with control over your senses, but when my colleague asked for clarification on the situation, you simply shut off the screen."

He leaned forwards. "Now, while I understand the necessity of regaining order above anything else, I think this is a scenario that must be talked about immediately. The last thing we need is the public finding out that Beacon, the academy that produces our world's protectors and guardians, went out of control and impulsively attacked each other. And so close to the Vytal Festival too… I'm sure you above everyone else understands the implications this could have on the safety of Vale."

I nodded. "Yes, I do."

"So you understand that trying to hide secrets now is going to cause every living being here to suffer under the Grimm."

Another nod of my head. "I am aware of what is at risk. To be quite frank, I didn't expect this to get quite so bad, so let me give you as much information as I can possibly give at the moment." My eyes glanced straight at the camera recording me. "I do have to warn everyone in this room one thing, though. The contents of this meeting must never be disclosed. Panic will ensue if any word of this leaks out to the media. As far as everyone is concerned, this information is off the record."

"… We'll make special note of that." The Head Councilman held a hand out towards me. "What do you have to say?"

I swallowed as I prepared my crafted out story. "As you see, Beacon suspects that there's a new kind of Grimm that has emerged within the past two weeks or so. There is reason to assume that this new type of Grimm has abilities beyond what we currently know. On campus, our students reported being attacked by an unseeable creature. This initially led us to believe that a Grimm taking on aspects of a chameleon has attacked us for the first time. However, with this attack, we will have to adjust our current theories."

The Councilman I was in contact with earlier this afternoon stood up. "So you're saying that there's something more to this kind of Grimm? Something so dangerous it turned every single Huntsmen against each other? Is that why everybody was fighting within the meeting room earlier?"

"That's my current belief. Gentlemen, the reason why I didn't mention this earlier is that this particular Grimm is breaking every single known rule about Grimm that we know of. Previously, the Academies believed that Grimm took on animals and monsters that Remnans were historically scared of, things that would appear in fairy tales. However, this Grimm shatters everything we thought we knew about them."

"Hmm… that is quite troubling." The Head Councilman laced his fingers together. "With a Grimm that can do something like this, this puts a lot of concern over the security of the civilians when the Vytal Festival comes around. If something like this was to happen during the festival—"

My hand flew up, cutting his words short. "I wouldn't worry about that. I can say with confidence that the Grimm has been stopped. As we're having this meeting, Beacon staff has been putting in a lot of effort making sure that one: there are no other traces of the Grimm that could potentially affect any citizens, and two: there is no possibility that more Grimm can enter the school premises. I can promise you without a doubt that Beacon will be secure for all visitors during the Vytal Festival."

The three individuals sat back in their seats, letting out a collective hum. "That… is great to hear, Headmaster Ozpin. It does ease the mind a bit hearing that there's something being done about the situation. However, it does concern us that something like this has been wandering around Beacon for half a month without our knowledge. It puts the Huntsmen-in-Training through a lot of unnecessary danger. And yes, while it is noted that there is an inherent danger in going to Beacon Academy that we have accepted, something like this is unacceptable in our books. This is negligent behavior that endangers these future Huntsmen."

I sighed. I guess that means we're going to go through this again. The Head Councilman continued: "We'll keep this event in mind when we do our evaluation after the school year ends. As great of a Headmaster as we consider you to be, maybe you've finally reached your peak as a teacher. If the safety of the future guardians of Vale can't be guaranteed, we will have to look at other candidates for your job."

I heard the ding of the elevator, followed quickly by the door opening. Out emerged James Ironwood with a look of fury on his face. It quickly shifted to confusion when everyone turned to look at him. "Ozpin, I have to ask something— Oh. My apologies. I wasn't aware that there was a meeting going on." He started to step back into the elevator. "I'll return at a later time."

"Not to worry," one of the Councilmen noted. "We were just about done. Do keep what we said in mind, Headmaster Ozpin. Keep up the good work." And with that, the screen darkened as they ended their call.

I turned back to face my fellow colleague. "Well, that was an… eventful meeting. But I digress. Hello, James. I didn't expect you to be up here. What brings you to my office? You said you had something to say to me?"

"Right, I did." The general started towards me. "Do you remember the conversation we had about a rumor you wanted to keep secret? A tale about a mysterious Arrow that gave the person hit with it paranormal powers?" I nodded my head. He continued: "I've always wondered why we had a conversation about such an artifact. It was such an odd mention in our talks about the other… heirlooms we guard dearly."

My eyebrows raised up as he continued talking. "But after what happened earlier this afternoon, I'm starting to think… does this have to do anything with the Arrow?"

"Yes," I said with a sigh. "It did, James."

His eyes widened before he furrowed his eyebrows. "Then— Ozpin!" James slammed his palms against my table. "Why aren't we dedicating more resources into looking for it? If something as powerful as this is within the city, then the paranormal users can potentially wreak havoc within Vale! And if something like this isn't contained, this could potentially send shockwaves across Remnant! Our entire civilization is at risk if this Arrow gets into the wrong hands! Why don't you just give me permission to use my army to look for this artifact?"

"I'd like you to know that I do have people looking for them. But not in such a big group, and undercover as well, so that they don't draw too much attention. But to answer your question, I have two reasons." I sat up in my chair. "One. Sudden army movements are going to unnerve the populace. As much as you like to pretend it's not the case, the majority of the city is fearful of the massive armada floating in the sky. It gives off the pretense of a military occupation. If they notice that your troops are moving in order to look for something, they are going to come up with irrational reasons why. And before we know it, there is civil unrest that can attract the Grimm."

"Ozpin, let me remind you that the Vale government itself invited me to bring my armada here." James tapped the glass screen with one of his fingers. "They've approved of the protection I brought to the kingdom. If anything, it's a good idea to use these men to keep them sharp."

"The Council might know the truth. I might know the truth." A sigh escaped my breath. "But are you prepared to go to every citizen's house and tell them of the situation? Of the reason why your ships are flying above the city of Vale? Of why an entire army's mobilizing? Do you think they'll believe that the army's just looking for one Arrow? No, that's ridiculous, no matter how close to the truth that is."

I pushed my shaded glasses up. "Besides, that brings me to reason two. Somebody's looking for it as well."

At that, my fellow Headmaster staggered back. "What? Are you sure about that?"

"Unfortunately, I am. You should take a seat. This might take awhile." I walked over to a coffee machine and started refilling the mug with coffee as my peer pulled up a chair. "You see, the Arrow isn't just lying around, waiting for somebody to stumble upon it. It's being carried by a… by a monster. For all sakes and purposes, we'll call it the Cupid."

"Cupid?" James raised his eyebrows as he sat down. "That's an unusual name to call a Grimm."

"It's more than a Grimm, James." I blinked as I watched the mug fill up. "The Cupid is unique in the fact that it takes on the form of a baby human. Despite this, it has the intelligence of a man who's lived a century. It's this thing that carries the Arrow with it, which is why it's called the Cupid."

"Alright. I see. So you weren't lying when you said that there was a new type of Grimm. Just… not the one I read about in the reports." I squinted at the man. He's been reading the reports I send to the Council? And he's been listening into my meeting even before he came in? James waved the thought away. "But that doesn't make any sense. It would be easier to find the Arrow then, right?"

"Not quite. The thing is the Cupid isn't alone. I suspect that there are criminals that are protecting this thing right now. Are you aware of Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan?" He nodded. "They've disappeared off the face of Remnant in recent memory. Normally I would attribute that to a criminal just laying low if it wasn't for this piece of news." I tapped a button on the table, displaying a news article:  **MAJOR DUST OPERATION BUSTED IN DOCKS! MASTER THIEF NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.** "VPD found tons of stolen Dust, money trails that lead back to several laundering sites that have been since shut down, an itinerary of Dust shops and when to hit them. Even a list of potential safe houses. All verified."

I picked up the mug the moment the coffee machine chirped. "And with all of this… I found something quite interesting." I made my way back to my desk and pulled up another file, displaying a bunch of writing on printer paper. "This was the confession note left by Torchwick and Neopolitan before they somehow escaped. It detailed their robberies, how they robbed the city, the usual confession stuff. It also had this on the back." I switched to another photo, showing a crude drawing of a Valentine's Day Cupid holding an ornate arrow. A stick person was hit by the arrowhead, and an ethereal figure formed behind him. "This is the process of forming a Stand user. These two know how it works, and the spirit they gain from it."

Ironwood furrowed his eyebrows. "That means…!" His eyes widened again. "So the two most wanted criminals in the city are—!"

"Them and a few more. But I need to make this point: whoever these individuals are, they're hitting random students with it. Which explains what happened earlier. If we throw more people at it, the group gets closer to finding what they want."

James raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "And what do they want?"

I gave the man a haunted look. "They're looking for a Stand user with the right abilities. Someone who can bring back a certain vengeful person. A person who will erase the existence of Remnans as we know it."

* * *

"Ow…" Yang moaned as she rubbed her wrists. Two dark bands swelled around them, with skin starting to peel back. "Aw man, being tied up sucks!"

I rubbed the back of my cloak nervously as my sister walked next to me through the hallways. Blake and Weiss sandwiched the two of us, generally keeping their silence as they listened into our conversation. Yang let out a sigh. "Thanks guys for letting me out. But man! Those rope restraints really bit into my wrists bad. I haven't had skin chafing this bad since I had to do those long cross-country runs with Dad. Remember, Ruby?"

"You mean the days when you would sit in a tub of oatmeal just moaning and groaning about how painful everything is? And how everything from your torso and your arms to your hips and your thighs and your groin would be all peeled up and red?" The blonde nodded, turning pink as she remembered everything.

"Can we… go back to the chafed wrists and not talk about our private parts?" Weiss sighed, rubbing the base of her nose next to me. "That's way more information then I wanted to know about my teammates. But speaking of which… I do have some aloe vera on me right now. I prefer petroleum jelly for this kind of thing, but I don't have some on me right now." She pulled out a small canister filled with a clear-ish liquid. Actually, the canister didn't have a lot left. Maybe half an ounce of it left at most. My partner held it high into the air as a frown formed. "Oh… I might need to get more eventually. But this might do for now. You want some, Yang?"

"Oh, yes, please! Anything to soothe my skin!" Yang caught the tiny bottle with little effort. I watched as my sister squeezed out almost all of the moisturizer into her hand.

Weiss gave my sister a weird look. "What the— Yang!" My partner let out a scowl. "What are you doing?"

My sister raised her eyebrows in suspicion. "Uhh, what does it look like? I'm rubbing aloe vera into my sore wrists."

"I get that! I'm asking why you're using so much of it!" The heiress snatched back the bottle. "You don't need that much aloe to moisturize your skin!"

Everyone else on the team raised our eyebrows. "Really?" we all responded.

"Wha— How does nobody here know about this?" Weiss drew a small circle on her palm. "You only need a small dollop of any kind of moisturizer, like roughly the size and shape of an almond! Any less and the substance won't cover everything; any more and you'll have greasy, slimy skin! What, don't you have anybody who could've taught you something about makeup— no, basic skin care? Seriously, Yang, you just said you had oatmeal baths for skin chafing!"

An 'eh' escaped my mouth. "Dad heard that from one of his coworkers back at Signal. Otherwise, he has no idea about skin care. I don't think anybody in our family knows or cares about that kind of stuff in the first place."

This only caused Weiss to narrow her eyes. "What the— how do you two have perfect skin, then? There's no way Huntsmen can have good-looking skin without some knowledge of skin care!"

We both shrugged. "… Good genes?" I offered. "Aura?"

My partner gave me a look of disbelief. "Please tell me you're being sarcastic. You seriously don't believe that Aura takes care of skin complexion just like that, right?"

"Well, I don't know, Weiss!" I threw my hands up. "Aura is so weird and unexplainable that I'm pretty sure it can be used to explain everything!" I dropped my hands and shrugged my shoulders again. "But honestly, I don't really know why we have good skin without moisturizer. It's not really a big deal anyways."

"Yeah Weiss," Yang smiled. "Besides, you said something about having to get more aloe later? This is the perfect excuse to go out and get some more. You know, as soon as the school lets us go out to Vale again." With that, she started slopping the gel all over her wrists. My sister let out a pleasurable moan, rubbing the squishy jelly all over her sore skin. "Ooh, wow. This stuff is actually pretty good! My skin's feeling all tingly and numb! Did they add something to the aloe to make it feel so good?"

Weiss nodded. "I think there are trace amounts of ice Dust. Not enough to encase anything in ice, but enough to give that nippy ice feeling when applied."

"... Nippy isn't how I would describe it, but whatever. It's really, really nice!" Yang let out a satisfied hum. "Makes me feel bad for using this much all at once. I think I might keep a bottle of this around for later. How much does a bottle of this cost?"

"Give me a moment. Don't exactly remember the price." My partner pulled out her scroll and did a bit of searching. "A regular bottle this size is maybe five lien, but with the ice Dust it goes up to maybe ten lien."

"What?!" We all backed away at hearing the cost. The blonde shook her head in disbelief. "A bottle that small costs ten lien?"

"Yes. The one I'm looking at is actually on the cheaper side. It isn't the brand that I have on me right now. Oh! Here it is! This bottle's actually around twenty lien. Not a bad deal if I say so myself." Weiss blinked at our lack of a response aside from the squish of the gel being rubbed onto Yang's wrists. "What? I mean twenty lien isn't that much— Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot that you guys don't have so much money. Twenty lien must be a lot for some moisturizer." A silence rolled over us as we continued walking. "Well, this is awkward… So, what do we do now?"

I hummed. "You know, didn't Nora mention something about having a pancake cook-off? I'm feeling a little hungry after all of the fighting we did today, and I wouldn't mind having something to eat. We can go there if you guys want."

A rumble reverberated through the hallway. What the— I turned towards Blake, who had her hand on her stomach. "That's a good idea. I wouldn't mind getting something to eat. I didn't really have anything to eat since this morning." She brought her hand to the chin. "If I remember correctly, I think they said something about having the cook-off nearby the dorm kitchen."

Yang let out a confused hum. "Our dorm has a kitchen?"

"It's in the same room as the lounge." The faunus girl raised an eyebrow. "How did you not notice it?"

My sister's face wrinkled for a moment, thinking about it. "Oh… oh! You mean those cabinet things on the side? That's a kitchen?"

"Yeah," Blake nodded. "I mean, it does have a stove and an oven."

"… And to think I thought that it was just a convenient place to keep all of the snacks." Yang brushed a lock of hair back. "Huh. You learn something new every day. I'll go to the cook-off."

"I guess that's settled then!" I gave the rest of my team a smile. "If we hurry, I think we can make it in time to see them finish cooking!" I threw my arm straight into the air. "Go, Team RWBY! Onwards to pancakes and glory!"

"Yeah!"

It was a fairly short trip back from there. Around us, several students started pulling themselves back up. The entire student body had looks of confusion on their faces as we passed by without a word. I bit the inside of my mouth. For something this bad to happen to all of the students… I wonder what they're thinking about now? Do they even remember what happened to them while they were under control of Russel's Stand? Maybe the rest of Team JNPR doesn't remember, but that's them. Maybe other people have some idea of what happened.

But enough thinking for now. I smiled as we entered the dorm building, taking a long whiff. "Mmm… that smells heavenly! It's really nice, don't you think guys? The sweet, almost toasty smell of pancakes. I wonder if the others have strawberry jam. That would be perfect! If I remember correctly, the kitchen should be around…" Chatter was right around the corner. "... Here!"

"Hi guys!" I chirped as I stepped through the door. Everybody in the lounge looked up quickly and gave me a quick wave before going back to their activities. From the looks of it, both Jaune and Ren were manning the stove, churning out pancakes as fast as they can. Ren was on a roll, taking a calm, calculated approach to cooking every pancake to perfection even at his current speedy pace.

Jaune… was actually doing pretty well. Granted, he's not as fast as Ren, but he's doing a pretty good job staying on top of making every pancake. Both of the men threw their finished pancakes on a random plate to be taken by a grinning Nora, and she would bring them to Pyrrha for her to sort out by size.

I glanced at the lounge part of the room. It looks like the sister teams of NDGO and BRNZ were sitting in a circle in beanbags having a chat with each other about… something. Something about relationships? Eh, it's not my thing. Fox and his team were resting on the couch, occasionally glancing between the work being made on the pancakes and the animated talks that the teams from Vacuo were having.

"Oof! Nearly burned that one!" Jaune slipped another pancake onto the plate placed at his side before turning towards me. He wiped a bit of pancake batter on his apron. "Oh hey Ruby! I thought you were going to get your sister."

"This sister's here now!" Yang strutted right in, giving everyone a wave before flicking her hair back. "Oh wow, this place is really crowded. There are like, five teams in this place! Are you really making that much pancakes for everyone?"

"Sorta!" Nora cheered. From the corner of my eye, I can see Jaune and Ren give each other shifty glances. The blonde boy pulled at his apron nervously. "We're going to make the largest pancake stack known to Remnant ever! And everyone's going to help eat it afterward!"

My sister gave everyone a grin as she rubbed her hands. "Ooh, nice. I didn't even know there was a world record for largest pancake stack. What is it?"

"Uhh…" Jaune scratched his head. "Just above a meter. What was it, around one hundred and two centimeters?"

I heard a whistle escape from Blake. "That's pretty big. How high are you going to make it?"

Nora grinned. "My team wanted to play it safe and add only a centimeter to the world record, but beauty must overcome practicality at all costs! Before we're done, this pancake stack is going to have ten extra centimeters, making it a masterpiece! This is what I'll be known for in Beacon! Well, besides being a Huntress of course. But still! Future students will remember my name for years to come if we manage to pull this thing off!"

"That's awesome!" I bounced around with joy. "I can't wait to see the results! Man, and when we get the chance to eat them— Oh, they are going to be so, so delicious." My eyes flew over to the mound of pancakes already on the island table. "So… When are you going to stack the pancakes?"

"As soon as Ren and Jaune are finished with the batter they have left," Pyrrha noted after she finished organizing the current pancakes. "Granted, we have a lot of pancakes to stack already. We already have around two hundred of them."

"Okay…" I tapped the side of my cheek. "So that means that every person here has maybe… ten pancakes. That's more than I usually have, but it doesn't seem like that much considering that I usually have my pancakes with a ton of other stuff." I turned towards my team. "You guys can eat at many pancakes in one sitting, right—"

"And done!" Jaune groaned as he threw his spatula in the sink. "That's all of the batter! Whew, that was hard! But we're finally done!" He started untying his apron. "So, are we going to wait a couple of minutes for everyone to catch a break or do we want to—"

"Just do it already!" Coco yelled from across the room with a cheeky grin. She rested her chin on her hand. "We're starving to see this!" I bit my lip. It's kinda strange having Coco act so normal after she tried to gun everyone down in the library not too long ago. But she recovered quickly for having a book smashed into her head. Maybe it was because of her Aura? I shrugged. The fashionista continued: "I thought we were going to see a pancake stack, not some freshmen slack around with a bunch of pancakes! Come on, time for the good part!"

"You heard the lady!" Nora grabbed the stack of the biggest pancakes and sets it firmly in front of her. "I've set the foundation! Ren, Pyrrha, Jaune. It's all you guys now."

Everyone nodded. "I'm not the most coordinated when it comes to these kinds of things," Jaune noted to Pyrrha and Ren. A brief glow appeared from him for a moment before fading away. The rest of his team didn't seem to react to the change. "How about you two stack and I'll straighten them out as you guys go?" I hid a grin on my face as the realization hit me. Oh, sneaky Jaune. I wouldn't expect him to do anything else.

There was a hum of agreement, and from there everyone started working. The room was dead silent now as Pyrrha and Ren took turns building up the pancake tower with Jaune helping to "straighten" it. To most people, this must be really tense. There's no way that a tower made out of nothing but pancakes can stay upright for so long, right? No matter what, it's bound to lean and fall. But there are two things JNPR was using right now to make sure that doesn't happen. One: they're making it so that the pancakes get smaller and smaller as it goes higher up. Reminds me of Atlesian skyscrapers and their tube-like shape. Then they have Jaune reducing the density of the upper pancakes. I don't how by how much, but it's gotta be enough to keep the tower stable.

Team RWBY gawked in awe as Ren placed the last pancake on top. It was such a tiny one, the size of the inside of my palm, maybe. But with that, the pancake tower was complete. Yang let out a whistle. "Wow… you guys actually did it. That is the biggest pancake tower I've ever seen." She looked down at her chests. "And I thought I was stacked. Eh?" She pointed finger guns at everyone. "Ehh?"

The entire room let out a groan. "Oh, come on!" Nolan yelled. "Just… why?" Every single member in CFVY was cringing. Even Yatsu, who was normally calm and composed had two fingers rubbing against his eyelids.

"Oh, come on! That wasn't nearly as bad as you think it was! I thought it was pretty witty!" My sister crossed her arms in a huff. She quickly gave the rest of us a smile. "But seriously, something like this needs a name! So Nora, what are you going to name this beauty?"

"Hmm… Umm… Huh." The hyperactive redhead shrugged. "I don't really know. How about something like Butter Top Tower?"

Yang shrugged. "Butter Top Tower… I like it!" She pulled out her scroll and snapped a picture of the tower in question. "May Beacon remember the glory that is the Butter Top Tower!" With that, everyone in the room clapped and pulled out their scrolls to snap pictures. She waved her hands at our sister team. "Come on! We gotta get you guys a picture before everybody digs in!"

Team JNPR nodded, quickly adjusting their clothes and hair before positioning themselves in front of the island table. My sister held her scroll up high. "Alright, say cheese!" A flash of light briefly illuminated the group. "Ooh, that's a good one. I'll send it to your scrolls."

With that, Nora started grabbing plastic plates out from a nearby cupboard. "Well, what are you guys waiting for? It's pancake time!" The hyperactive girl started passing them out to everybody while the rest of the team in the background started separating the tower down to four decently sized stacks. "Go ahead and take whatever you want! On the house!"

A thought hit me right as Nora handed me my plate. "Oh yeah! Are there any strawberries or any toppings or something?"

"Pretty sure there were," Ren hummed. "You can look in the cupboard or something and see."

"What? But they're so high up, and I'm like this close to the ground!" I gave a pout. "Couldn't you check to see for yourself, Ren?"

Yang let out a chuckle. "I'll go, little sis. This won't be nearly as bad as the cupboards at our home. Remember Ruby? The ridiculously tall ones that even Dad couldn't reach without a stool? Heheh. I wonder why he decided to build them that big." She rubbed the top of my head as she passed by me. "Don't worry about your height. You'll hit that growth spurt sooner or later."

"Please don't talk about my height," I whined, combing my hair back to its original position. That only got Yang to laugh even harder.

"Here you go, Ruby." A yelp escaped my mouth as a big jar of jam just fell into my hands. "I don't see any strawberries, but I don't think you'll mind that much."

"Thanks!" With that I dashed towards the pancake stacks and started piling them all on my plate, slathering a thick amount of jam between each slice.

"Um… Ruby?" Jaune pulled at the collar of his hoodie before letting out a cough. "That's a lot of pancakes. I don't recommend having that many pancakes at once."

"Huh?" I looked up at him after my eighth pancake. "Why?"

The blonde boy scratched the back of his neck. "Well, have you ever wondered how we managed to get so much pancake batter in such a short time? On the one day where we can't get to a store to buy all of the ingredients?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe you bought them some time ago? I mean Ren's really big on planning and all that. Maybe Ren and Nora planned to do this for awhile?"

He shook his head. "Nora came up with the idea yesterday. We had absolutely no time to prepare for it. All of the pancake mix we used came from an old batch Ren sealed up since… what was it, since before the first day of school?" I paled upon hearing that. Jaune continued: "He did say that it doesn't look like the seal broke and the mixture itself didn't look rotten. Still, I wouldn't eat a lot of them just to stay on the safe side."

"Well… um…" I scratched the side of my head. "Why don't you tell everybody else about that then?"

Jaune didn't say anything, instead keeping his silence. "Well, it's not like we're going to throw the whole thing out after we made something like this. Plus, Nora's going to be eating all of the leftovers. She has a gut of steel, but there are only so much one stomach can take after all. Plus, I don't want to let these guys down after Nora promised them pancakes afterward. Didn't feel like the right thing to do."

"I mean… that's true, I guess. You gotta give people what you promised. At least Huntsmen aren't going to suffer that bad if we do get food poisoning. Whelp, bottom's up!" Before he could say anything else, I scooped up and shoved a decently sized portion into my mouth. "Mmm… yum! For pancake mixture that's nearly a year old, this tastes pretty good! Ren really nailed it!"

"Wait, really?" Jaune's eyes widened. "There's no weird aftertaste? No nothing?" I shook my head. The boy snatched a nearby pancake and took a bite out of it. "Huh… nothing is wrong. So was I worrying for nothing?"

"Yup," I nodded. "These taste like perfectly fine pancakes to me. By the way, do you know when we're talking to Russel about the Arrow?"

He shrugged. "I sent a message to Cardin about Russel. Russel's out of the infirmary already, so we can meet up with them and talk about all of that stuff."

"Mmmhmm." I swallowed another helping of pancakes. "Wouldn't it be kinda awkward meeting up with the team that used to bully you?" I kicked at the ground. "You did make up with them a while ago, but still. I wouldn't be comfortable talking with the people who bullied me either."

"Hey! We haven't done that kind of stuff in forever!" Everybody turned around to see Cardin leaning on the side of the door with his arms crossed. The rest of team CRDL stood right behind them, looking a bit nervous. "What? I heard that there are free pancakes being made, so I brought my team over for some grub." The room remained silent. "Well, this is awkward… We brought lemonade." At that Sky held out a couple of jugs.

"Oh! I can't believe we forgot to get refreshments!" Pyrrha barely managed to grit out of her teeth. Her hands tightened around the edge of the island counter. "Thank you for that! You can leave them on the table. We'll grab some cups from the cabinet and serve them out. But anyways, go ahead and enjoy the food!"

"Alright, thanks for that. Come on, guys." Cardin leaned towards us as his team passed by. "I don't know why you needed to speak to Russel specifically, but he's all yours, Jauney-boy. Take it easy on the guy, okay? He's still winded even after his wounds have healed."

Jaune nodded back, turning towards the mohawked boy as he walked up towards us. "Hey Russel, you don't mind if we stepped outside and had a talk, right? It won't be long, I promise."

The boy nodded, a bit of disbelief flashing through his eyes before that quickly faded away. "Okay… That's fine."

We didn't even close the door when Russel started fretting, rubbing the back of his head as he paced back and forth. "Is this because of what happened earlier this morning? Look, it was an accident. I didn't have control over my body, and that spirit thing just took over and made me do whatever it wanted. I didn't want to mess with your team, I swear!"

"It's okay, I get it. I'm not going to hurt you or anything." Jaune raised his hands up, palms facing Russel. "Ruby and I are going to explain everything. About the spirit thing. Ruby, if you will?" With that, I brought out Rose. Russel's eyes widened at the sight, backing away a couple of steps. "This here is a Stand. That's the spirit thing that took over your body. These Stands have abilities that basically defy logic. For example, Ruby can break her body down into rose petals. I can change the density of anything I touch. From what I can tell, you can influence the emotions of all non-Stand users around you."

"Huh… I see." The boy with the mohawk stared at his hands. "And why did my Stand takeover my body?"

I sighed. "We're not too sure. Stands are controlled by willpower, so maybe the Stand appeared and you weren't ready to control it, so it took over your body."

Russel stayed quiet for a while, glancing down at the floor. He let out a snort. "Heh… I guess that makes a little sense. A freak accident. It makes me wonder if I can control it the next time it happens."

"All it takes is willpower," I noted, waving the fork around as I continued eating my giant stack of pancakes. "Then you can easily summon it whenever you want."

"Maybe…" He shook his head. "Not likely, though. I don't want to try again. It's best… I think it's best if I just didn't try to summon it and just go back to life with my team. It's a lot easier that way."

Jaune nodded his head. "Okay, that's fine. Just one more thing before we're done here. So me, Ruby, and a couple other people happen to be Stand users, and we're currently searching for the source of the Stands: the Arrow. Whenever it cuts somebody, it gives that person a Stand. However, if it cuts somebody with weak willpower, it could potentially kill them or send their Stand out of control."

"Like me," Russel sighed.

"Yeah." Jaune cast his eyes down to the ground. "Like you. But there is this Grimm creature that carries the Arrow that looks like a Grimmified human baby. Try to remember as much as possible. Did you see anything like that recently? Or did you feel something jabbing into your skin?"

At that Russel hummed. "Did I? There was somebody doing archery trick shots during that impromptu talent show, but from a quick glance, all of those arrows were pretty normal. Nothing that stuck out in my mind. And hell if I know when I last felt a cut. Just that I started feeling dizzy roughly an hour before my part, but I attributed that to stage fright more than anything else." He shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I got nothing for you. Sorry for wasting your time."

The blonde boy sighed. "Well… it's fine. Any bit of information helps. We're done here. You can go back in."

"Sure, thanks." Russel opened the door before looking back at us. "And to you two… good luck with your search. I don't want to see another me happen on this campus again." He entered the lounge, leaving the two of us alone in the hallway.

"So what now?" Jaune groaned. "Even after all that, we still don't have anything! How are we going to find the Arrow now?"

"Hmm… I don't know," I shrugged. Another fork full of pancakes entered my mouth. "There has to be a pattern to all of this— A thought struck me. "Oh my gods…"

"Huh?" Jaune turned towards me. "What is it?"

"I was thinking about who is a Stand user. For the most part, all of us are students here at Beacon except for two: Torchwick and Neo."

The blonde raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? What about those two?"

"Isn't it weird that all of these students are being targeted, and then there are these two random criminals? Criminals who set up a trap with their Stand to get us killed off?"

Jaune's eyes widened. "Right! Why would they specifically target us with Stand users unless they knew from the start that—"

"—That we're Stand users. And we know that they're working with the White Fang because of their appearance in the rally from earlier this year. Torchwick works for other people, which means that he's been sent by somebody who also knows about the Arrow to kill us. Which means the White Fang must've known about it, if not used it on certain members."

"My gods…" My friend whispered.

"It gets worse. Everybody targeted by the Arrow was hit either in Beacon or extremely close to Beacon. So… for some reason the Cupid decided this was a perfect place to create Stand users. Why could that be, though? What's so special about Beacon that draws it here?"

"Maybe it's all of the Huntsmen here," Jaune shrugged. "Because we have to fight against the Grimm, we'll naturally have a lot more people who are strong-willed. There's no way that a weak-willed person would be accepted here. So that could be a thing."

"Maybe… But there's still something off about this situation." I let out a long sigh. "It can't just be because we happen to have a lot of willpower. There have to be strong-willed people in the city as well. But we have no news reports of a Stand incident in downtown Vale or anything. It has to be something else." I glanced at the door frame to the lounge, listening to the lively conversation coming out from the door. We need to figure this out before yet another person falls victim to the Cupid. We need a clue.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = December 18, 2017**

* * *

**Gwen's Bizarre Adventure - Act 1**

"Mmm…" I hummed as I took a bite of the pancake. My eyes widened. "Oh wow. This… this is delicious! It's so beautiful." Tears started rolling out of my eyes as the flavors washed over me. "This here is nothing short of a masterpiece." I slammed the dish onto the carpet floor, causing my teammates to look up in surprise. "Guys. I have to know this guy's recipe, right now. This is an opportunity of a lifetime! A flavor like this needs to be sold back at our academy. I'm sure it'll sell like hotcakes back in Vacuo! We'll be filthy rich!"

"Okay Gwen, calm down. Can we just go a month without another get rich quick scheme from you?" Nebula sighed. "I mean, I have to admit, this is a good pancake stack. But I don't think the cook would be happy if we decided to take advantage of his recipe for our own gains."

"Don't think of it as exploitation, think of it as an opportunity! I mean we can give that guy a cut if that would help." I stood up. "I'll ask him right now."

Octavia tried to speak up. "Gwen, I don't think that this—"

I ignored my friend and walked right up to the man with the pink highlight in his hair listening to a redhead blabbering about… ninja ghost sloths? Well then. "Hey there," I waved. The hyperactive girl stopped speaking as the two of them looked at me. "I like your pancakes. You must've spent a lot of time learning how to make those pancakes to perfection."

"You won't believe it!" That girl stepped close to the boy, almost protectively in fact. "Renny here worked on this formula for years before he found the perfect combination! It's one of his most valued things in the world!" Her eyes narrowed at me. "Something really, really important to him."

The man sighed. "Nora, you don't have to be that dramatic." He turned towards me. "What do you want?"

"Oh! Well, I hope you don't mind because my question's kinda dumb now that I think about it." I rubbed the back of my head. "Well you see, I'm interested in learning the recipe so that I can make some for myself back in Vacuo." I lowered my voice. "And maybe sell it for money."

"What?! No way! Not in a million years!" The girl hunched back, squeezing Ren. "This is worth more than gems, more than diamonds, more than anything else in the world! This is a secret that will never leave Ren's mind! I would rather have you pry it out of his cold, dead hands. Except if you hurt him, I'll break your legs!"

"Nora, you don't have to be that harsh. Look, the recipe has sentimental value to me and my friend Nora here. I'm flattered by your offer, but I can't accept. I hope you understand."

"No, no. I get it." My hands flew up as I slowly stepped away from them. I paid special attention to Nora, who may or may not be reaching for a frying pan right now. "You two have a great day now."

The rest of NDGO had to hold their mouths in laughter as I slunk back towards them. "So," Dew noted as she swallowed a giggle. "It didn't work out?"

"Shut up." I slumped back down on the ground. "It was worth a shot. I don't see you guys trying something."

"Why bother?" Dew rested her head on one of her hands. "It's not like we're not getting paid. We do get a portion of whatever the mission reward is. We're making lien just by studying here. Why make more money than that?"

"You can never have too much pocket money," I winked. "Think of it as keeping my options open." I glanced at my partner, who had her back pressed against her girlfriend's back. Both of them were on their scrolls texting. Probably each other. I've never seen a more awkward couple than this. "Hey Octavia. Whatcha doing?"

"Hmm?" She looked up. "Oh, just chatting with May. Nothing much."

"Don't wanna be rude, but aren't you right next to her? Couldn't you just talk face to face?"

"We like to keep our love private. We're both not much for acting in public." I had to stifle a laugh. Yeah, that's pretty apparent. She glanced at her scroll. "Oh, you don't say."

"Huh? What is it?" I asked, leaning over to look at my partner's scroll.

"For some reason, all of the students Beacon have a betting pool." My eyes raised up. A betting pool? "Right here they list troublesome teams. Each team has a set of odds that they will get into trouble with the authorities next. Team RWBY has 1:10 chance, for example for their actions at the docks and their fight against the White Fang."

"Really?" I couldn't believe my ears. "What odds do we have?"

"1:50 chance, on the lower side." My partner hummed as she scrolled through the page. "Apparently it's all due to that incident at the Cafe a little while ago."

"Hey! It was honestly just a prank!" I yelled as I waved my arms. "And I paid for all of the damages, too. However… Ooh, this is good." I rubbed my temples, letting out a hum. "I feel an idea brewing in my mind."

"Oh please no," Octavia groaned. "If this is another one of your money ideas, count me out. These never go well."

"Oh, you're gonna want to stay on board, because I'm bringing Team BRNZ into this one." A smile grew on my face. "We need steel cables, an attachable pulley system, hooks, several weights totaling two tons, my Mystique— I mean Semblance, balaclava masks with matching turtleneck sweaters— This is perfect!"

Nebula swallowed a giant mouthful of pancakes. "Okay Gwen, this is actually a bit scary. What are you planning to do?"

"Why, rig the betting pool in our favor, of course!" I leaned forwards. "Tell BRNZ to pool all of their money with us and bet on team NDGO. We're going to make a bet, cause some trouble that will be the highlight of this year, and come out a fistful of lien richer!" I gave my team a bright smile. Everybody looked frightened at what I was going to do. "So let's start. Who knows if there's a teacher with a car?"

**=TBC=**


	25. Secret Journey

A little bit of downtime is always necessary, no matter what you're doing. It's important to have those moments in your life where you can put masterminding, planning, and other worries to the side in favor of relaxing. A lot of people don't realize that we need to have a dedicated time to clear our minds off work, and instead focus on what's most important to us. And what's important to me? Making sure I make a change in this flawed world.

I let out a long sigh as I stared at Beacon's fountain, combing a lock of long black hair behind my ear before adjusting my leather vest. Most of the students walked through this area without a care in the world, chatting about anything that was on their minds. Most likely forgetting about the incident that happened about a week ago, instead focusing on the first year simulation. After all, today's Wednesday, I believe. Something was bound to happen anytime now. A hum escaped my mouth as I watched the water cascade down the fountain. I wonder what complication the world will throw at me this time around? What task would Beacon have me do—

"Oh, hey Cinder!" I looked up, snapping myself back to reality. Ruby Rose stood in front of me in her normal clothes, brushing what looked to be crumbs off of her face before waving with a smile. "I didn't expect to meet you here! What are you doing here? Where's the rest of your team?"

"Good evening, Ruby. Mercury and Emerald are most likely in their dorms sleeping or something," I said, glancing at my ungloved hands. She doesn't need to know what they're actually doing. I hope their visit to Vale will be fruitful in the end. But no matter what, I can't let this girl catch on to our plans. "As for me… well, I wanted some time to myself. And this fountain reminds me of home."

"Mistral, right?" I nodded my head. She let out a hum of contemplation as she plopped down right next to me on the bench. "I didn't know that. About the fountain, I mean. Which fountain are you talking about? The big one in the main city?"

I chuckled. "Actually, it's this unusual, unorthodox kind. It's actually a square fountain in this garden I've basically lived in my whole life. Far away from the city." My fingers drew out a rough description in the air. "The idea is that there are these slopes forming a hollow square so that there's also space for plants to grow. What I liked about this fountain was how the water looked like it was flowing up the slope, before falling and flowing up the next ramp and so on. This fountain right here's more traditional, but I always like imagining what it would be like to see water flow upwards against gravity instead of with it."

"Huh." Ruby scratched her head in confusion. "Okay, then. That's… unusual."

"Mmhm." I nodded my head. "It is. There's something special about that fountain, that's for sure. It defies the current rules to create something beautiful and inspirational. Regular fountains have this nice appeal where everything just seems to flow naturally. Seeing water seemingly break that trend is just awe-inspiring. Flowing against the current to create something new. I like it when expectations are defied like that." I brushed a lock of hair back and looked at the girl. "But let's talk about you. What are you doing here right now?"

"Oh yeah! The second-years are going on their last mission for the year, and I wanted to say goodbye to a particular team before they took off. Apparently, my team went ahead of me, so I'm trying to catch up with them right now." The reaper tapped the side of her cheek, nodding her head before snapping her fingers. "You know what? Why don't you come with me to see them off? You're not really doing a lot right now, and I wouldn't mind continuing our chat."

Hmm… I rubbed the base of my chin. Should I? This might be a great opportunity to learn if there are any other Stand users that have the ability we need to continue our plans. And I also get to get a little closer to Ruby, which means that she'll be more likely to give up some valuable information. Information that we can use to find our target. It would serve me best when it's time to put down all of the cards and reveal everything. And to think that I originally intended on just taking her out of the picture before they could become a problem. Ruby… what a great asset.

I nodded to the girl as I stood up. "Alright, then." We started on our way. "So, do you remember that simulation thing that was supposed to happen today?"

The young girl nodded. "Yup! It's kinda scary how nothing's really happened yet. I don't think anybody wants to go out today. Who knows what could happen? So I kinda feel jealous of the older year students. At least they don't have to worry about this simulation and instead do actual fun stuff. You know, Hunting and all that." The girl let out a long sigh. "What I wouldn't give to jump on one of the Bullheads and just fly off to fight off the Grimm invading a local village. Although it's going to be hard to convince Weiss and the others to leave. And Team RWBY does need their team leader, no matter what."

A sigh escaped my mouth. "Responsibility. Something that everybody needs to bear, but something everyone hates to have. It's hard having responsibility, especially when that means holding other people's lives in our hands. When your failures will affect them negatively, or get them killed outright. But the burden of such a task serves to drive us as well. It's such an interesting thing—" I blinked. "Oh, sorry. I don't really know why I decided to say that. It just— came out of my mouth just like that."

"Nono, that's okay," Ruby shrugged. "I mean, I think about it, too. It's something I don't like to think of, but…" The girl tugged her cape closer to her body. "Once we graduate, we become Huntresses, and we have to consider the lives of the people first and foremost, including our loved ones. My team, the villagers outside the Kingdoms, the people inside the Kingdoms… There's a lot at stake the moment I step out into this world."

Ruby squeezed the cloth, creating ripples across the cape. "And it's going to be hard. It's a burden almost nobody takes, and that's lonely. But that's why Huntsmen exist after all. We take on the responsibility others can't possibly take. Isn't that right?" I nodded. The child gave me an almost bittersweet smile. "The kid in me wants to run away and Hunt, but the leader part of me wants to be there for my team and for all Remnans. I guess that proves you right in how responsibility drives us, huh?"

I gave her a nod as I delved back into my thoughts. Hmm… so that confirms my suspicions. Ruby seems to be the loyal type. Dedication to her team, dedication to her cause, so on and so forth. She's willing to bind herself to responsibility if it meant protecting others. It could be a reason why she's going after the Arrow, now that I think about it. A smile crept up my face. Perfect. So that means she's not going to see the bigger picture at least until it's too late for her to act. I've already praised myself once for this, but I'm really glad that she's still around. It's not every day a person like her acts in such a predictable manner—

"—Hey, Cinder!" I snapped back to her. "Are you okay? You kinda zoned out there." My eyes narrowed for a moment. Did I really zone out next to the girl who could potentially stop my plans?

"I'm fine," I said. "Like I said, it's a thing I do at times. I like thinking to myself, but sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to be talking to people. It happens."

"Okay then." The girl in black and red fiddled with the side of her hoodie. "Well, do you want to talk about something else? Actually, hold that thought. We're here." The whirring of Bullheads on standby caught my attention as we approached the launchpads in question. It still amazes me sometimes that Remnans managed to figure out how to fly like birds. To think that even just six years ago I wouldn't have imagined of getting anywhere in the world that isn't by land or by foot. A lot has changed since then, but luckily the amusement hasn't. At least not yet.

Several upperclassmen stood nearby what I can only assume would be their assigned Bullhead, talking amongst each other and their teams. Most of them faded away from memory as soon as my eyes hopped towards another group. None of these guys are going to be important for the plan to come. If they were, I would've expected another incident erupting from their ranks like what happened last week. No, these individuals are less important than the pawns on the table. As far as I care, they are civilians. And considering how complacent they act these days, they basically are.

"Hey Cinder, could you help me look for Team CFVY?" Ruby chirped. She held a hand up to her brow and squinted. "It shouldn't be too hard. Just look for the gigantic East Mistrali in green and a giant bronze sword right next to a rabbit faunus."

A smile crawled up my face. "If it isn't so hard, wouldn't you have found the team by now?"

"Well… yeah." Ruby tapped the tips of her index fingers together as she let out a nervous giggle. "It's kinda embarrassing that I'm failing at this."

Luckily for the girl, a feminine voice spoke up. "Oh, look at this. Isn't that the leader of Team RWBY, Velvet?" The both of us turned around to see a girl in a turtleneck and shades strutting alongside a brunette with prominent bunny ears sticking out.

The woman I assumed was Velvet nodded her head before giving the young girl a wave. "Hey, Ruby! It's great to see you! Your team was wondering where you were the whole entire time."

"Yeah, about that." Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "I kinda took a detour for breakfast. Then I guess I just forgot about time and all. But I'm here now!"

The girl in the turtleneck gave the girl a smirk. "Oh really? Anyways, whatever. Let's meet up with the rest of the guys." She turned towards me. "But I don't really recall meeting you before. You a friend of Ruby?"

"Of sorts." I hesitated for a moment before offering my head. "Cinder, leader of Team C.M.E.N."

She scoffed as she took my hand. "Oop—! Sorry about the laugh. I just got the acronym. But really? Your Headmaster must've really been bored or desperate enough to name your team that. I mean, really? He's got some issues. I'm sure you're still a good team leader in spite of the name. I'm Coco Adel, team leader of CFVY. If you're a friend of Ruby, you're a friend of mine. But let's get a move on, shall we? Don't want to keep the team waiting for when we take off!" Everyone else nodded, and with that, the four of our started our trek into the mass of Bullheads.

Coco gave me a quick glance before letting out a hum. "Huh. You're not afraid of showing some skin, that's for sure. Just a leather vest, some strategic sarashis, and some tight pants." The girl whistled. "Simple, yet effective. I don't really like that sensual survivalist look, but you do you, Cinder. Oh, wait a minute." She walked towards me and took one of my arms, inspecting my skin closely. "Now I didn't expect this. You dabble in Mistrali Dust weaving?"

My jaw almost dropped upon hearing that. "Oh, of course. How do you know?"

"Hey, I'm a fashionista. I would be embarrassed not to know about this kind of stuff." Coco took her sunglasses off and seated them over her beret. "But for a quick explanation, your skin glitters just a bit in the sun. Not much, but to a noticeable amount for someone with a keen eye. See?" The upperclassman twisted my arm in the air. Sure enough, I caught a faint red sheen flickering once in a while.

Coco let out a relaxed chuckle before releasing my hand. "Funny story about how I first learned about this. So my family's company used to have this clothing line inspired by the movie 'The Girl on Fire' where the main character uses fake fire in her outfit to enamor a crowd. We tried Dust weaving to try and get the same effect, and it did for the most part. But all of the models complained about how Dust residue would build upon their skin and give them that slight glittery look. They looked like shiny disco balls by the end of the shoot! Took them forever to get the substance off!"

"Huh… I didn't know that was a thing," I noted, trying to keep the bitter taste on my tongue down. "Dust weaving was just a tradition my village always kept alive. It never occurred to me that there were side effects to doing so. But then again, everything does make a bit more sense now that you mentioned the residue. We were known for the unusual shine on our skin."

The upperclassman smiled. "Don't mind helping a freshie with a bit of my knowledge. Gotta teach the younglings about the facts of the world, after all." I resisted scoffing. Oh please. I'm likely older than you by three years. I know things that you wouldn't— no, couldn't even comprehend. You looking down at me when you don't even know anything close to the truth is laughable. If I was me six years ago, you would be lying on the ground, blood gushing from the beating I would give you.

I hid my distaste from her though, giving her a small smile. But I can put this aside, just for now. "Thank you, Coco." It's just a little annoyance in the bigger scheme of things. A passing detail in the bigger picture. Let her believe what she wants to believe. Keep not understanding the plights of other people. You'll learn to understand soon enough. I continued: "I'll keep that in mind for now on."

Ruby jumped into the conversation. "But forget about clothes! You have to tell us about your mission! What is it this time around? Are you performing a search and rescue for an overrun village? Hunting down a beast plaguing the outskirts of Vale? Come on, you guys. I can't take all of the anticipation!"

"Oh, it's nothing so heroic," Velvet sighed. "There's a Grimm nest that burrowed itself close to an often traveled road close-ish to the old destroyed Valean colony. We're supposed to meet up with some local villagers then work with them to destroy the nest."

"That sounds really cool though!" The young girl raised her eyebrows. "How is that not heroic?"

Coco chuckled. "I can answer that. It sounds cool until you actually think about the situation. The thing is we can't fight any of the Grimm. Because we'll be so close to a popular travel route, there will be travelers and merchants passing by. And they'll panic the moment they hear fighting so close to them."

"Bringing more Grimm to the area." Those silver eyes widened.

"Exactly. This can go wrong so quickly, so we can't just uproot the nest on our own. That's why we're working with the villagers on this. They have to work to divert the travelers, account for caravans currently on the path, make sure that no one catches on to what's actually going on and all that." Coco flipped her sunglasses back on. "And until they get that done, we're either doing nothing or searching for the nest without the ability to fight back. Not fun at all, but if it'll make sure that we don't get into an absolute mess, we just have to put up with it."

"Better bored than dead," I noted.

"Mmhm." The fashionista let out a yawn. "Oh, we're close to CVFY's Bullhead. Just turn right at this platform and done!" Close to the back of the launchpad stood the rest of Team RWBY leaning on one of the Bullheads alongside two guys. They most likely finished some kind of conversation some time ago, considering how they generally ignored each other in favor of doing their own thing. Blake was flipping through a book, Weiss and Yang were on their scroll. The giant Mistrali boy Ruby talked about and a short dark-skinned boy with scars stared off into space, although that might actually be the case for the latter due to his milky white eyes.

But something was… off about the boy. Not by the fact that he might be blind, no. I've seen many people lose their sight outside of the Kingdoms, more than one will ever believe. No, but for some reason it feels like he's staring at me intensely. Like he's trying to observe me or something. Even though I know he's not doing it to be rude, it still was unnerving. Like he can see me in a way that I can't even comprehend. I don't think he's a Stand user. The Arrow never came close to him. My eyes narrowed. I might need to keep a watch on him, just in case.

The giant of a man pushed herself off of the Bullhead the moment he saw his team leader. "Coco. Velvet. Ruby." He nodded to each woman as he said their names. Then he turned towards me. "And I don't believe I've met you before."

"She's a friend of Ruby's," Coco chuckled. "Meet Cinder."

"Hmm… an interesting name." He waved my hand away as I offered it out, instead giving me a bow. "Forgive me for the rudeness, but I don't shake hands. In my culture, it's more polite to bow to strangers."

In turn I shook my head. "I understand. There's no offense taken." My eyes flickered to the other boy. "May I ask for both of your names? You and the other boy over there?"

"The boy over there is Fox. As for me, I'm Yatsuhashi, but everybody prefers to call me Yatsu. Either name is acceptable to me."

At this time the rest of the RWBY girls snapped up to look at us. Yang in particular. "Wha— Oh, hey guys! Glad you could finally make it, Ruby!" Within moments she bounded over and pulled her sister into a hug. "Couldn't resist a last minute cookie raid?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Wha— no! I'm not a crook! You have no proof of that!" Her eyes flickered to her teammates before zooming towards me, begging to get her out of this situation. I shrugged back at her as a response.

Yang's smile, on the other hand, became more vicious. "Yeah, right. I can smell the chocolate chips wafting from your mouth. I'm less sad about the fact you decided to eat cookies in the first place and more about the fact that you didn't bring any for the rest of your team, or even Team CFVY. They're going to leave anytime now, and no parting gift?"

The young leader groaned, turning red in the face. "Now you're trying to make me look bad, Yang! Of course I brought them a gift!" The leader of Team RWBY pulled away from her older sister. Reaching behind her back, she pulled out a small tin box the size of her fist. I blinked. I honestly haven't noticed that tin whole entire time. Was that on her the whole entire time? "See? I bought them one of those cookie bites tins! So, uh, here you guys go!" She shoved the tin into Velvet's hand.

"Oh, thanks Ruby." Velvet held the tin up for a moment before pocketing it. "We appreciate it." She checked her scroll time. "Coco, it's about time."

The leader of Team CFVY nodded her head. "Gotcha." She turned towards Team RWBY and me. "It's great having you guys come over to watch us leave for our mission. Oh yeah, isn't that simulation thing happening today?" Everyone nodded. "If there's any advice I can give for that, basically just stay calm and let everything catch you by surprise. Worrying about what might happen will have you thrown off your game, and a scenario like that will suck for your team. I would know. It happened to my team last year. Whatever happens happens."

Ruby and I nodded. "Got it," the girl chirped. "We'll keep that in mind. Have a safe trip!"

"Thanks, Ruby." Coco turned towards the rest of her team. "Come on everyone, on the Bullhead! Those villagers aren't going to be waiting for us forever!"

They nodded, piling into the aircraft the moment it opened up. The Fox kid kept his gaze on me for one more second before feeling his way into the airship. So he is blind after all. I relaxed a little. So he wasn't actually staring at me, but just happened to be looking in my direction for the longest time. Well, I didn't need to put myself through so much worry like that. It meant absolutely nothing in the end.

Coco was the last person to step into the Bullhead. The moment she sat back down, she turned towards the rest of us. "Well, we're off! Good luck with whatever's going to happen today!"

"Thanks!" Ruby waved back. "Happy Hunting, Team CFVY!"

In response, Coco gave us the thumbs up before tapping on the side of the Bullhead. The passenger doors closed up a moment later, and with that, the Bullhead started levitating upwards. The five of us watched in silence as the rest of the Bullheads zoomed away from the launch pads to wherever they will take the rest of the second year teams. Before we knew it, we were the only people still there.

"So Cinder…" Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Well, my team and I are going to go back to our dorms now. If you don't really have anything else to do, you can come over and hang out with us—"

"I think it's best for me to check on the rest of my team," I interrupted. "Make sure that they're still there. I mean, the last thing I need to worry about today is them getting into trouble when we start the simulation. So, no thanks." I turned around and started back for the 'dorms.' "Maybe another time."

"Alright then. See ya later, Cinder!" I let out a hum at that. We will be seeing each other again, I assure you, Ruby Rose.

As soon as I managed to escape from Team RWBY's sight, I pulled out my scroll and started typing up a message.  _Progress on trip?_

A message popped up several seconds after I sent it.  _Found several hits within the city. Around seven. None showing symptoms at the moment. Returning home now and waiting._ I smiled. That's good. Seven might be enough to find what we need. Now all we have to do is wait and watch Ruby and her friends come after them. And with that, I put my scroll away and continued walking. This was a relaxing moment, indeed.

* * *

It felt like time flew after Jaune's battle with  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC.** **」** One moment we were having pancakes with all of our friends. And before I knew it, a week has passed. The sun had just set, allowing the cliffs of Beacon to be shrouded in darkness. I laid in bed, already in my sleepwear. A bit of drool escaped my mouth as I flipped through the newest issue of Hunter's Weapons Monthly. Actually… the issue came out last week, but I've never really gotten a chance to read through it properly until now. It's a great thing I have time now, because these parts are top notch! I adjusted the headphones on my ears as I stared at the pages in awe.

I snatched a highlighter laying nearby and started circling images of various bolt mechanisms. Just recently they came out with slam-fire bolt action mechanisms, which means I can fire my baby as fast as a semi-automatic weapon if my arm could take it. Realistically, there's never going to be a need for slam-fire. It's going to wear down the mechanism like crazy, and it'll suck if rounds don't get seated correctly. But if I ever get into a fight with, say a giant Berginel or something fast like that… It might just be what I need to keep fast creatures at bay without getting overwhelmed.

"Hey…" Somebody's muffled voice tried to reach me over the electric guitar from this alternative-rock song playing in my ears. I shrugged. Maybe it's not important. A hum escaped my mouth as I continued circling the mechanisms that interested me. The sounds of somebody knocking against the side of my bed caught my attention. Huh? I looked over to see Yang making a motion of pulling something out of her ear. Oh—

"Yes, Yang?" I asked as I slipped the headphones off. The heavy pounding of rock disappeared, replaced with the mellow and calmer sounds of the Achieve Men.

My sister adjusted her tank top as she gave me a beaming smile. "Hey, so you know how the Achieve Men released a new album recently?" I nodded before hearing my partner shift on top of her bed.

"You've been playing it nonstop," Weiss moaned from below me. "I mean it isn't bad or anything, but it's weird that you wouldn't play music out loud for the whole entire year, and then all of a sudden it's just nothing but R. Lazer singing about love and relationships over and over again!"

Yang shrugged. "What can I say? I love these guys ever since they first debuted six years ago. They're a timeless band!"

"You also had the biggest crush on Little J for the longest time." Lilac eyes flickered to me in shock as a wide grin formed on my face.

"Ruby, don't you dare—"

"I guess it's about time I got revenge for all the times you teased me, huh?" I sat up, rubbing my hands with glee. "Weiss, you should've heard the things Yang told me about her love for Little J. Yang said how she wanted to squeeze him tightly on the shoulder and give him little kisses on the neck. I remember how she asked me to read this story she had written back then, and it was a little fantasy about a self-insert character interacting with the entire band."

At this point, Yang started trying to climb my fortress. "Ruby!"

A snort escaped my mouth as my bed started swinging around. The heiress beneath me let out a scream. "Yang, don't! I'd rather not die here!"

"Hold on, hold on, let me finish. Yang wrote how she wanted to have the whole entire band take off her clothes and lick her body like a bunch of dogs. And best of all, she wanted to slap Little J's butt while he's touching her butt!" Crimson eyes flared within my sister's eyes. "Oh man, twelve year old you had absolutely no idea how sex worked!"

"Ruby! I'm going to— I'll—" Her eyes turned back lilac. Yang closed her eyes as she took a long breath. "Deep breaths. Calm breaths." She hopped off my bed, taking a couple of steps back. "There's no need to kill your sister, Yang. She'll suffer in more ways than she'll ever imagine. I will remember this, and I will get my revenge." A low, rumbly laughter escaped from her throat.

I paled at that. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know." Yang put on a smirk as she leaned on a side of the wall. "Maybe there are other… crushes that you yourself don't want to be revealed."

My jaw dropped. "No… Yang no!"

"Yang yes!" The blonde's smile grew even larger. "Maybe Weiss won't mind hearing about how you loved Uncle Qrow and that you wanted to marry him once you became old enough. Three years to go, Ruby. I don't Uncle Qrow's the kind of guy to date someone way younger than him, but who knows? From the way you've been growing, I think you might have a chance with him—"

"No!" With a yell I leaped off of my bed, tackling Yang and knocking her to the ground. "You will not say another word! I grew up! It's gross now that I'm older! I was a dumb kid who didn't know any better!"

My sister was having a laughing fit as she tried to push me off of her. "You know how we used to joke about how Qrow looks more like your biological dad then Dad?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me. "Three more years and he'll actually be your daddy, if you catch my drift—"

"Stop it!" I whined. "Nonononono that's disgusting! Just stop!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll stop it!" Yang laughed as we tussled on the ground. "Come on, Ruby! I'm joking!"

"Hmph!" I got up, crossing my arms as I ballooned my cheeks.

"Aw, don't be like that Ruby. Besides, I have an announcement to make to all of Team RWBY!" My sister looked around the room. "Where's Blake?"

We all looked at each other before shrugging. Yang sighed.

"Man, and I thought she would be here by now. She hasn't been answering my scroll, either." My sister sighed. "I should go after her, but I'm already so comfortable." Yang pouted for a moment. "Oh well. I can tell her when she comes back. But basically the Achieve Men had a raffle for anyone who bought their new album. Up to four people can come to a first-peek concert where they unveil some new songs that they might play during the opening of the Vytal Festival Tournament!"

"That… makes no sense at all." Weiss raised her eyebrow up. "Wouldn't it be more of a surprise if they just chose a song in secret and played at during the opening? Why would they play a series of songs to an exclusive audience?"

Yang shrugged. "Eh, I don't know. It's probably just an excuse to hype up their upcoming tour to a ton of people. But that's not the point!" The girl pulled out her scroll and showed it to us. It was displaying a message with a bunch of streamers surrounding the word, 'Congratulations!' A giant grin grew on her face. "I've won! There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who ordered their album, and I happened to be one of the winners! We can go to this concert!"

"Oh Yang! Congrats!" I clapped my hands with glee. "That's awesome! So you are you going to bring?"

"That's easy! I need my partner to come with me, 'cause partners always stick together! Then I couldn't just leave just my baby sis!" A yelp escaped my mouth as she wrapped her arms around me. "Which leaves one more spot for one more person. Hmm… Who could it be?" Yang tapped the base of her chin as her eyes flickered to the ceiling. "I don't think anyone on Team JNPR likes the Achieve Men… Team SSSN is out for sure… Oh! I'll take Ice Queen along with me!"

A scowl appeared on my partner's face. "Why is it always me who gets singled out with the nicknames? And stop calling me Ice Queen! I'm not that harsh of a person!"

"Ooo, still a bit prickly there, Weiss. Feel like you need to… chill out for a moment!" Yang self-fived herself. "Nailed it!"

Before Weiss could say another word, my scroll started buzzing on the bookshelf. "Hold on, I got it." I picked it up and unlocked the phone. "Hello?"

"Ms. Rose?" The clear voice of the Headmaster escaped from the speakers.

"Headmaster!" I stumbled a bit, causing everyone else to look at me. "Sorry," I whispered to them, covering the microphone. "I'm fine." Raising the scroll back up, I answered: "Yes?"

"I'd like to have a talk with you in private. I know it's a little late at night, but I feel like the subject matter is important enough to be discussed. I'd prefer if you came here as soon as possible, so grab something that can keep you covered up and come over to my office whenever you can, alright?"

I nodded my head. "Okay. Goodbye." I hung up and slipped the scroll into my pocket. "Sorry guys, but I have to go see the Headmaster right now."

They nodded. "Sure thing, Ruby," Weiss said as she slipped back into bed. "So when is this concert?"

"Tomorrow! So a couple of days before the Vytal Festival starts! … Okay, now that I say it, it really does sound like a bad idea. But anyways," Yang waved at me as I threw on my cape. "Bye Ruby! Stay safe, okay?"

"Sure thing!" I locked the clasps into place, fastening the red cloth to myself. "I'll see you guys later!"

A hum escaped my mouth as I walked out of the room and started my way down the corridor. Hmm… I wonder why the Headmaster asked me to come over to his office at this time of day. Did he figure out something about the Cupid? Something so important that it can't wait? I started to break out into a run. I should hurry then. If I don't get this information soon, then the Cupid might get away and render his knowledge useless!

I burst through the dormitory doors when the sudden chill of the night enveloped me. I shivered as I pulled my cape closer to me. Brr! It's cold out tonight! I'm glad I decided to bring my cape. The cold would be a lot worse without it to warm me up. But I should hurry up. I'm not sure how much time I have left until—

My mouth yet out a yelp as I saw Blake coming towards me with a sandwich in her mouth. Her eyes widened as well. I dove to the side, bumping into her shoulder in the process. Her figure faded away into shadows a moment later as she appeared a meter to her left. "Blake?" I asked as I picked myself up. "What are you doing out so late at night?"

She pointed at the grilled sandwich. "I got hungry, so I went to the cafeteria and picked up a tuna melt." Her words were muffled as she said this. "It's nice to have the cafeteria open for late night snacks. But what are you doing here? I thought you were at the dorms."

"The Headmaster called me up to his office." I leaned in towards her. "It might have to do with the Cupid and the Arrow."

Her eyes widened as she heard that. She swallowed her current mouthful. "Then I'll come with you. After all, it's best to have more than two people there to hear what the Headmaster has to say. I'm starting to think somebody's been watching us, and we're going to need to make sure everybody knows this information."

"What— you mean Beacon in general? They have dozens of cameras stationed everywhere! It's… kinda creepy now that I think about it." I shivered as the two of us started towards the Headmaster's tower.

Blake shook her head. "No, I don't mean that. Here's the thing. You know how I was researching the White Fang movements in the city recently?" I nodded. "Well, they ended right after Torchwick's Dust smuggling operation was busted. They haven't done a single thing ever since then. On one hand, that's great for us. We don't have to worry about busting any more White Fang at the moment. At the same time, I've started noticing how every time we visit the city, somebody's been watching us. Sometimes it's a male figure. Sometimes it's a female figure. But they're both faunus. I think the White Fang are looking for the Arrow as well."

I shuttered when I heard those words. A terrorist group with the power of Stand users… even if only a tenth, no, a single percent of the group had Stand powers, there's no way anybody can stop the combined might of so many people. We'll most likely get steamrolled, and then there'll be nobody who will stand in their way. "We can't let that happen," I growled as I clenched my hands. "We'll take the Arrow back before the White Fang does that."

"Right." With that Blake popped the sandwich back into her mouth and continued eating. We continued on our way towards the Headmaster's office without sharing another word. The silence isn't really that awkward. Not like how it used to be. Before it felt like we didn't know what to say to each other. Now… it's more of a comfortable silence, like we were okay with not saying anything to each other. The only thing I heard during the entire trip was our footsteps and the sounds of Blake eating.

Before long we found ourselves in the elevator. The faunus girl next to me finally finished one half of the sandwich and started on the other half. "Mmm…" Blake glanced at me. "Maybe one day we should all go out and get a late night snack. These sandwiches, while simple, are actually pretty good."

"Really? Can I have a bite?"

Blake gulped her mouthful down. Her mouth opened as her eyes flickered between me and the tuna melt in her hands. "Uhh… I mean this is really good stuff, but…" She sighed as she handed the sandwich to me. "Take a bite from the opposite side, okay?"

"Thanks Blake!" I bit into the melt. My eyes widened as the flavor danced on my taste buds. "Wow, these are pretty good. When did you find out Beacon does this?"

"Roughly around the same time I started researching the White Fang. You learn stuff when you skip dinner." I handed the sandwich back to her.

Just then the elevator rang. The doors opened up to reveal our Headmaster looking through his scroll. "Hello, Ms. Rose," he stated, still focused on the text. "Thank you for coming here on a short notice. Please, take a seat." He looked up at the two of us. One of his eyebrows lifted up in amusement. "And hello, Ms. Belladonna. I didn't expect you to be here tonight."

"Oh, that." I chuckled as I rubbed the back of my head. "I happened to run into Blake while I was heading over here. She was doing a… late-night run for food."

"... I see. Anyways, Ms. Belladonna. This is a meeting between me and Ms. Rose only." He laced his fingers. "And since this meeting might take awhile, I wouldn't recommend waiting for your team leader. I'd prefer if you went back to your dorm before curfew comes into effect."

Blake let out a hum. "So there isn't anything about the Cupid?"

The man shook his head. "Unfortunately no. It's more of a… personal issue. Which is why I wish this meeting to be private."

"Alright then. So… I'll meet you back at our room then." The girl gave me a wave as I stepped out of the elevator.

"Bye, Blake." I turned towards the Headmaster as the door closed. "So if we're not here to talk about the Arrow or the Cupid, what are we here to talk about?"

"Take a seat. I wasn't joking when I said that this conversation might be a long one." He set his scroll to the side as I plopped myself into the seat in front of the desk. "Now, let me start everything out with a question: remember when we first talked right after you foiled Torchwick's plan to raid From Dust to Dawn?" I nodded. He continued: "Do you remember my first remark when I first saw you?"

"Um… it was something about my eyes, I think." I hummed as I tried to think back to that day a long time ago. Wow, has it really been that long since I became a Huntress? It's almost been an entire year or so! "But… it was how they were silver, right?"

He nodded. "Now I didn't tell you why I made that remark. But to explain, let me tell you a tale of a people long gone. The tale of the silver-eyed warriors."

I frowned. "The what?"

"The silver eyed warriors. Their story has been lost over the ages, but here's what is known about them. These individuals were a group of people who were legendary amongst warriors many years before the kingdoms existed. They were so revered because they had powers that could purge the essence of the Grimm. In a world before Dust was widely available, this was an absolute boon to the survival of all Remnans. It's said that any person born with silver eyes was destined to become a warrior, a defender of the people. Personally, I don't think this is the case. I feel like the expectations of the people forced these individuals to fight, but who could blame them? Having the silver eyes meant you were their best chance at survival."

"Okay…" I started fidgeting in my seat. "So does that mean that I'm one of them? But if having silver eyes was so useful in the past, why don't more people have them? Wouldn't it make sense that somebody was doing everything they can to keep the silver eyes within the gene pool?"

"As far as we know, both you and your mother are silver-eyed warriors. Past that… we're not so certain." He sighed. "As for your other question, nobody really knows. All I can say is that after the invention of weaponry that took advantage of Dust, the tales of the silver-eyed warriors started just… fading away."

The Headmaster sighed as he leaned back. "I had a colleague who wondered about why they disappeared, and explored several ruins to figure out the answer of why his people started becoming irrelevant. He didn't live long enough to figure out the answer. And before I found your mother and you, I thought he was the last of them."

He clenched his hand, mouthing someone's name. I couldn't make it out. "He… he was an archaeologist initially. Before he got pulled into—" The man sighed. "Now's not the time to talk about my past. I'm not here to grieve a friend long past gone. It's his powers that I need to make you aware of. As a silver-eyed warrior, he was the ultimate destroyer of Grimm. Initially he was able to use his eyes to freeze the Grimm in place. It also destroyed the area around him, making him a giant bomb. Eventually, he figured out how to channel this power through his body in the form of electrical sparks. It's almost like he harnessed the very power of the sun to fight the Grimm."

"Now, the point of mentioning all of this is because I believe that you can use a variation of this power. This… silver eyed power that can send ripples through the Grimm and destroy them from the inside out. While I hope it isn't necessary, it will put my mind at ease if you were able to use this technique. I… have a hunch that the Cupid might not go down with the power of a Stand or Dust weaponry alone. Having one more method can increase our odds of finishing off its kind."

I nodded as I took all of this in. So I have an ability that can potentially destroy the Grimm in a single touch? Or at least I can develop it. But with the ability of the silver-eyed warriors, I can potentially make this mission a whole lot easier! We're currently spending a lot of time either trying to track down the Cupid or stopping whatever Stand is created from the Cupid's meddling. Now that I think about it, the one time we managed to find the monster, it managed to get away because we didn't really have good methods of killing it. Jaune and I didn't have a gun at the time, so we were forced to chase the monster down. That didn't work out too well. We weren't able to get the Cupid either in my team dorm room.

Without a doubt, this creature will be hard to kill even if we find it. But it wouldn't matter in the end if I had the ability to channel this ripple energy through my body. No, not even that! All I have to do is be able to use the big explosion attack, and just like that, the Cupid's gone! I let out a cheer as I sat up from my seat. "That's great! I'll do it! Headmaster, what do I have to do in order to use the power of the silver-eyed warriors?"

He glanced away. "This is where we run into some difficulties. I'm not quite too sure about the exact method. But from what my friend said, he had to come extremely close to his breaking point in order to manifest his powers. Losing his entire family and fortune in a freak house fire activated his." My cheer went away. Oh… That's… pretty severe. I don't know if I can go through that much turmoil and stay sane.

"So that means… somebody I care about has to die in order for my eyes to unlock?"

The Headmaster shook his head. "By gods, I hope not. But the only silver-eyed warriors I knew in my life were your mother and him. I don't know how your mother activated her powers, and you heard what I said about my friend's catalyst." He leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh. "Sometimes I feel powerless as a mentor. When students come to me, they expect that their teachers have all the answers in the world. Most of the time, we do. But sometimes, we don't. And it eats at us, knowing we can't give a better answer. In a way, it creates a feeling of hopelessness within us, the thought that we didn't do enough to teach our children. This is one of those moments. I wish I had something more to give you."

I nodded my head, putting on a firm smile. "It's fine, Headmaster. If we don't know yet, then that means we just need to find it, right? I'm sure that we'll figure out something to help us take down the Cupid. It's better knowing that there is another path I can try out. It's bound to help us in our quest to retrieve the Arrow." We sat silent a couple of minutes after that. "Umm…" I started. "Is there anything else that you needed to tell me? Like if there are any Stand users we need to worry about, or…?"

"No. All I needed to tell you about is about your potential." A small smile crept up to the Headmaster's face as he took another sip of his coffee. No, wait… the aroma isn't coffee like this time around. Hmm… maybe he switches to some kind of non-caffeinated drink during the night? He continued: "Now I don't expect you to be able to gain this kind of power so quickly. Something like this needs… a lot of planning, to be sure. It would be nice if you were able to unlock your eyes' potential, but first and foremost is the mission to find the Cupid and retrieve the Arrow. It's more important we can figure out a pattern to its movements."

"Alright. I guess this means I can go now." I stood up from my seat, brushing the front of my pajamas. "One more thing before I go back and sleep for the night. Is this something I should tell my teammates? While I don't think they can help me much with this, and it doesn't have too much to deal with us looking for the Cupid, but—"

"It's best if you tell them some general details about it." Ozpin leaned forwards. "I'd rather not mention the part about my friend and all that, but it's best to give them a decent idea of what to expect. I'm sure they can help you figure out a way to find your powers. Aside from dying to unlock your powers, I hope. It would be a shame to hold a funeral for… any Huntsmen."

I nodded. "Thank you, Headmaster. Goodbye then! I'll see you… whenever we have to meet up again!"

"Goodbye then, Ms. Rose. I hope the rest of your evening will go well." I started towards the elevator. "Oh, wait a minute. I just thought of something. Nothing related to the conversation we just had. More of a passing curiosity." I turned around and looked at the Headmaster. He coughed into his hand. "Did Professor Port by any chance start the simulation that was supposed to happen today?"

"No." I shook my head. "Everybody was a little disappointed about how nothing really happened. It's a little boring waiting until class is over and just staying on campus, waiting for nothing to happen. Did something go wrong? Did Port decide to change the day of the simulation and just forgot to tell us? It's a little strange that there was no simulation today."

"Oh really? That's… interesting." I swore I saw a little smile crawl up on the Headmaster's face. "Well anyways, have a good night, Ms. Rose."

"You too, Headmaster." My mind raced as the doors to the elevator closed and started descending. Hmm… What he said about the silver-eyed powers. Although the idea of being able to destroy Grimm with my bare hands sounds awesome, it's kinda weird how he decided to bring this up now. Granted, it's better than if it was brought up later when it's already too late, but choosing now to talk about it… It's almost like he wanted me to learn how to use the powers not just for the Cupid, but for someone else. That sent a shudder down my back. What could be so scary that the silver eyes are needed?

Another chime sounded in the elevator before opening to the big empty square outside. I let out a sigh as I stepped out into the freezing cold. I should hurry up and get back to the dorms. It said on the news that it's most likely going to get colder as the night goes on.

Before I could take a step forwards, somebody yanked me up and pressed a rag against my mouth and face. What the— I started struggling, throwing my limbs everywhere in an attempt to hit the person. Am I being kidnapped? How did kidnappers get onto Beacon? With Ozpin watching the whole entire place, there's no way that he isn't noticing this right now! My eyelids started feeling droopy. Why does the rag smell so sweet… I closed my eyes as I drifted off into slumber…

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = December 22, 2017**

* * *

**Gwen's Bizarre Adventure - Act 2**

My body shivered as I slinked across the roof. Man, it's chilly tonight. Fall is really hitting Vale hard this year. It's so, so different from the always sunny, always warm climate back home. Winter there was always a welcome break from the desert heat. But here— I suppressed a cough. Here, it's so uncomfortable. If it gets this bad here, I could only imagine the weather in Atlas. How do people live on that frozen tundra?

I let out a quiet yawn, touching every piece of equipment on my body to check if they're still there. Steel cables, hooks, pulley system… mhmm, that's everything. Simple enough to find around the school. It's nice having some experience dealing with backstage stuff here. Meanwhile my Mystique  **「** _ **LADY MARMALADE**_ **」** had several weights stuck to her back. Hopefully at his time of night nobody would be awake to see or hear a bunch of random floating bags filled with lead balls. It took me forever to stick every single ball to each other to stop the rattling.

But it looks like everything is going to plan so far. I repeated the plan in my head. Professor Port has a giant four-wheeler jeep parked at Beacon for some reason. I'm going to hijack his car, get it all the way to the Headmaster's Tower, set up the pulley system and the weights at the top of the tower, and finally hang the four-wheeler in front of the Headmaster's window like an ornament for a Christmas tree! I mean sure, there are easier ways to get into trouble, but I like to do it with style! This will get people talking for sure!

A sigh escaped my mouth. Oh man, I wished I didn't have to go at this alone. I wanted to have all of NDGO on this mission, but there was that simulation thing that was supposed to happen today. It's weird. Nothing happened during the day. So unless they canceled it, something's going to happen within a couple of hours. I sniffled as I wiped my nose. For once, I have to thank my weak immune system. Getting sick was a stroke of luck, which means I'm grounded from any Huntsmen activities. If my entire team have to be called out into the field or something, I'll be stuck here alone. I just hope that my body doesn't fail me while I'm climbing.

But okay… I glanced at my scroll. There should be a parking lot located behind the school's amphitheater. And that's roughly… two buildings away from me. I let out a sigh before suppressing another cough. Why is there an underground parking lot? There's nothing to drive to on this cliffside! Maybe the professor likes collecting cars. Maybe it's to fuel his ego. That guy does like to talk a lot about himself, so that wouldn't surprise me.

I stopped and smiled. Below me was the entrance to the underground garage. I'm here. With that I leaped down from my place on the roof and started towards the ramp leading underground. Whelp, this is it. I adjusted the balaclava, making sure no one can make out a single feature of my face. No backing out now. I should make this quick as well. Get the truck out, hide it, set up the pulley system, and get this plan in motion. Don't know how long I have until one of the teachers catch on to what I'm doing.

Before I knew it, the darkness took over. I pulled out a flashlight. Alright, so the four-wheeler should be around… My light illuminated a camo green car. There! I smiled as I approached it, letting out a little whistle. Wow… Pretty big truck for a small dude. Think he might be compensating for something. I cracked my fingers. But now that the target's in front of me, time for the fun part. I really hope this prank was worth all of the work reading up on car anatomy and learning how to do car modifications. I swear with all I've learned, I could be a mechanic.

**「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** shot out from my body, driving her hand through the car door without any resistance. Let's see… first things first, I have to find the window regulator. Now, there should be a motor somewhere that allows the window to move up and down. My Mystique waved her arm around. Where is it… I swear it was here somewhere— She brushed against something cold, stringy, and metallic. Bingo! Found you!

I let the cord become slippery. With a single tug of the cord the window slipped down without an issue. I'm in! I leaped into the jeep before getting  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** to close the window for me.

My head looked under the wheel. There should be a box filled with a bunch of wires— and there it is. With a flat-head screwdriver I had in my pocket, I unscrewed it, pulling it away from the steering column. Alright, now I just have to insert a paperclip into a red wire and a blue wire, stick said paperclip to them with my Stand, and boom. The dashboard turned on without any problems. Now I take a spare wire striped at both sides, connect one end to the yellow terminal.

A giggle escaped my mouth. Time for the magic. Let's see if this really works. I tapped the other end of the wire onto the paper clip. The jeep I sat in roared a second later. Yes! I silently pumped my fist. I got it! Everything looks like it's working as planned! Dashboard's on, electronic's on, engine's rumbling. I'm almost ready to take this bad boy for a spin.

But before I could do anything else, I still gotta make sure the steering wheel doesn't lock.  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** stuck her hand through the steering column cover. Normally the key would depress the switch that would cause the steering wheel lock to be disabled. At the same time, I'd rather not destroy this guy's car by shoving a screwdriver into the socket. Good thing I have my Mystique to make sure that doesn't happen. Just press the pin that serves as the lock and stick it in place, and boom! I turned the wheel with no resistance. One hijacked car, coming right up!

I laughed as I glanced around the driver's seat. Behind me the side door opened while the blue-colored Mystique threw the weighted bags into the car. Okay, pedals are there. The left one's the brake, then the right one is for the gas. Okay, then transmission is this lever here. All you have to do is press the side button here and drag it to change. Alright, alright.

The door behind me closed, signaling that  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** finished with her task. And with that, I shifted the car into reverse. Everything's going well so far. Nobody tried to stop me yet. The only thing I have to worry about right now are the security cameras. If they haven't noticed me now, they're definitely going to notice as I drive this out. How long it's going to take them to notice me is the million lien question here. Really, all I can hope for is a distraction that will pull everyone away from what I'm doing.

**=TBC=**


	26. Escape Route

"You know what, Yang?" I said after listening to the Achieve Men's new album for what must've been the fifth or sixth time. I brushed a lock of my snow white hair away from my face. "I think these guys are starting to grow on me. Now that I've listened to them a couple of times, they aren't really that bad."

The blonde girl grinned. "So you get it now? Do you understand why the Achieve Men are such a great band?"

I nodded. "A little. Their instrumental is so-so at best. It's all standard fare for boy band music. Nothing nobody's heard of before. But it's their talent in singing that just pulls you in. You can hear the emotions when they sing, so much so that it comes off as genuine. Their lead singer in particular has a surprisingly large range, so they can do some impressive feats. It somehow turns what normally is boring music into something distinct and fresh. So again, not that bad."

Yang leaned in closer to me as her smile grew even larger. "So you understand why I'm so excited for this concert, right?"

"Could you not lean in so close?" She did so anyway, being only an inch away from my face. "Okay, okay!" I shoved her away as she let out a laugh. "I get it! I'll go! It wasn't like I was planning on doing something else anyways! In fact…" I sat up in my bed. "Now that I think about it, it'll be interesting to see what it's like to be in the crowd for once."

"Wait, what do you— Oh. Oh yeah, right! You used to sing solos before becoming a Huntress. I forgot." Yang hopped into her bed and placed her head on her hand. "But hey. I heard there might be a meet-and-greet after the show. It'll be awesome to see you singing some random pop song with one of the guys. Or maybe a love duet. Ooh, that sounds awesome! How does that one love song go? 'And IIIIIIIII, I want to share, all myyyy looooove with youuuu—'"

"Yang, stop it!" I threw a spare pillow at her face, stopping the tone-deaf wails escaping from my teammate. "You're going to destroy my ears if you keep that up!"

The door opened before Yang could respond, revealing the missing faunus girl. She was stuffing the crust of a sandwich into her mouth before dusting her hands. "Hello," she spoke in a muffled voice as she walked in. "Were you guys singing something?"

"I… don't wanna talk about it." The faunus girl's partner sat up. "But where were you for the entire evening?" Blake didn't say a word, instead pointing at her mouth. Yang raised her eyebrows. "That's it? You just went out for some food? No White Fang business or anything like that?"

The girl in black swallowed. "Yang, I'm not that obsessive. You said it yourself. It's best not to allow something like the White Fang bother me so much. No, I just lost track of time while reading, then got myself some food before returning back here."

"Oh. Okay." The blonde let out a hum. "By the way, did you run into Ruby while you were coming back? She's been gone for some time."

Blake nodded. "I walked with her to the Headmaster's tower. His talk with Ruby was going to take a long time, so he told me to go back."

"Huh. Really— Oh wait, yeah, she did say that." She sighed, shaking her head. "Maybe I shouldn't be so worried about Ruby." Yang flopped back into her bed, throwing my pillow back at me. "I mean, I'm sure that she's going to be fine."

A couple of knocks on the door caused us all to jump. "I got it," Blake called out as she turned around. My mouth curled into a frown. Who could it be at this time of night? Maybe it was somebody who wanted to make a noise complaint or something. I mean, Yang is playing the Achieve Men album pretty loudly.

"Yang, maybe you should turn down the music," I started. "I think somebody's here to complain about the noise so late at night—"

I heard the sound of our door opening, followed by a hum. "Oh, hey Blake. This might be a weird question, but have you seen Cinder?" My eyebrows raised up. Is that… Emerald? I glanced at the door. Sure enough, the mint-haired girl and her teammate Mercury stood in the doorway. Emerald continued: "She went out for a walk an hour ago, and she's still not back yet."

Mercury nodded. "Like, Cinder might be a bit unfocused at times, but even she comes back or calls in when she's planning on staying out for the night. But so far, nothing. It's like she disappeared into the night."

What the— Cinder's gone? And Ruby left to meet with the Headmaster… why do I have the feeling that something's going on? I pulled out my scroll and called my partner. Come on, pick up… " _I'M SORRY. THERE'S NO CONNECTION,_ " the automatic voice spoke. " _THE INDIVIDUAL YOU ARE CALLING HAS EITHER TURNED OFF THEIR SCROLL OR IS NO LONGER IN RANGE. PLEASE CONTACT THE CCT—_ "

I ended the call and crawled out of my bed. No, this can't be right. Ruby not picking up? That's not right… "We need to talk with team JNPR. Something doesn't feel right about this situation." I started towards the room opposite of us and started knocking. "Hello? Is anyone still awake?"

The door opened after a couple of knocks, revealing Pyrrha with baggy eyes. "Oh, hello Weiss," she yawned. "Is there something you need?"

"Where's Jaune?"

"Hmm?" She rubbed her eyes as she turned around. "He should be in the room with the rest of us— Huh?" Her mouth dropped at the sight of an empty bed. "What? He's gone. But that can't be right… we all went to sleep at the same time."

"Oh gods, no… Pyrrha, get everyone awake. Something's happened to all of our team leaders, and we have to act now." I felt a drop of sweat slip down my neck as she woke up Nora and Ren. What is going on here? Why are all of the team leaders disappearing? What's causing all of this? And most importantly, where are they now?

* * *

 

Brief moments of clarity swam to my consciousness. One moment I remember somebody letting me collapse to the floor before putting some kind of bag over my face. The next I can see nothing but the seams of some kind of burlap sack on my face. Somebody was hauling me across their shoulder, most likely across campus. I tried to struggle against the man. My arms wouldn't move. I'm tied up, I think. Some kind of— I felt somebody strike me on the back of the head.

After that, the next thing I vaguely remember was the sounds of whispering. Somebody placed me on my side. The whispers faded as they started walking away from me. My vision darkened again.

My eyes shot awake as I felt a dull pain throbbing in my head. Ugh, did they really hit me that hard? I tried to let out a groan. My lips wouldn't move. What the— is that duct tape on my face? Maybe I am being kidnapped. But who would kidnap me? Why would they kidnap me? Are they Stand users? This isn't going to be pretty if I'm going up against a Stand user. And with the fact that I'm bound and gagged—

No, wait. I need to think about it for a moment. The guy started by grabbing me from behind. That part is obvious. However, the person didn't use any kind of Stand against me, but a rag. A rag soaked in chloroform, I think. Definitely smells like it. If they were a Stand user, they would've done something else besides knocking me out, especially if they knew that I'm a Stand user. So it can't be a Stand attack. Could it be White Fang? But I was with the Headmaster the whole entire time! He must've been watching the area right after I left! There's no way he would've let this happen! And how would the White Fang anticipate me being out of my dorm? It doesn't add up.

But maybe I should be thinking about this kind of stuff after I'm free. I blinked myself awake. Now that I think about it, escape is actually pretty easy for me. All I have to worry about is somebody shooting me. Alright, I have to figure out where I am right now, and if anybody's watching me at the moment. Wooden creaks registered in my ears when I adjusted my weight just a bit. But I can still feel the chill of the night on my skin. So I'm outside, but on something with a wooden floor. Well, that's not too helpful. That could be anywhere. What else…

I took a sniff. I could make out the scent of burlap, um… something sweet. Not like chloroform sweet, but natural sap sweet. Am I in a forest? But that doesn't match up with the fact that I'm on a wooden floor right now. Unless… unless I happened to be in one of those outside roof thingys. Or maybe the patio of a log cabin. I used to live in one of those. Hmm… there could be a ton of abandoned cabins within either the Emerald Forest or the Forever Fall Forest, so maybe.

This time I trained my ears to the best of my ability. I don't hear any footsteps, so there's no active patrol. Or at least not one within the area. But what about guards? They could very much be standing still! They might even be the guys who left the area the last time I was aware of my surroundings! Oh man, what I wouldn't do to have Blake's ears tonight! I could've listened to the sounds of their breathing or fidgeting or something like that!

My nostrils flared. Okay, time to start taking chances. My left eye started peeling away into rose petals, floating through the opening of the base of the bag. I closed my right eye right as my other eye formed right on the side of my head, sitting in my ear. The first thing that caught my attention was the shattered moon within the sky slightly covered by the green trees of the Emerald Forest. However, I also got a glimpse of some kind of tarp above us. It was tightly stretched over the metallic sides. Well, I think it's metallic.

But from the looks of it, I can't make out anyone watching over us. With that I transformed my limbs into rose petals, allowing the rope around me to fall to the ground before I put myself back together. Ah, that's much better. My left eye broke down, the rose petals moving back towards my face right after I jerked the burlap sack off of my face. I have to admit, sometimes having Stand powers aren't really that bad. Trying to find something to cut the rope would not be fun at all.

I yanked the tape off of my face. Ow… I rubbed the tender area around my lips. That hurt… I pressed my lips together and wiggled them as I glanced around the area. I'm in some kind of vehicle, I think. Maybe like one of those transport trucks people used before airships were a thing? I looked up and touched the ceiling. Yep. Definitely a transport truck. It's strange. Why would the kidnappers drag me out of Beacon using a car? I mean there's no way somebody cut out a path for trucks to drive up a cliff! … Then again, Beacon does have a walkway going from the harbor at the waterfall all the way up to the campus itself, not to mention the scary elevator. It's possible.

Something soft collided with my foot as I took a step forwards. What in the— I looked down, only for a gasp to escape my mouth. What the— There's nine more people here with me! I'm surrounded by a pile of bodies, each bound and lying on their side. All of them had a burlap bag over their head. From the looks of it, everybody happened to be in pajamas or in some kind of sleepwear.

"Oh my gods…" I whispered to myself. Did all of these guys get kidnapped in their sleep? What in the world's going on? Maybe I should check on them and see who's here right now— Wait a minute. There was a guy wearing a onesie. A blue onesie with bunny feet and a bunny on the front. My eyes widened. That's Jaune!

I crept towards him, wincing as my feet made tiny creaking noises. "Hey. Jaune." He didn't respond. He must've been exposed to the chloroform as well. I rolled him over to his back before yanking the bag off of his head, exposing a messy head of blonde hair. Like me, he had a piece of duct tape slapped across his lips. His eyes were shut in a tranquil manner. The kidnappers most likely got him while he was asleep. I tapped his face. "Wake up. Come on Jaune, wake up."

His eyelids wrinkled as he murmured something under his breath. I couldn't make out a single word he's trying to say, especially with the tape over his lips. Okay. Gotta try something else. This time I grabbed both of his shoulders and shook a little harder. His eyes shot open. Jaune blinked in confusion as he saw me. "Hmm? Rvy, wh goin on?"

"Huh? Oh. Hold on, this is going to hurt for just a moment." I ripped off the duct tape, causing the boy to hiss.

"Oww! Mm, gods that hurt!" He tried to rub his lips, only to be held back by the rope. "Umm, Ruby? Why am I tied up?"

"I don't know for sure," I whispered back. "I'm pretty sure that we're being kidnapped, alongside eight other people."

"Eight other— Oh gods!" His eyes widened as he saw the rest of the bodies. "That is not good. Not good at all. We have to get out of here!" He struggled against his bindings.

"Jaune, hold on for a moment. I can look for something sharp to cut your bindings—"

"Don't worry about that. I'll just use my Stand against the rope." With another jerk, the cord around his arms started to tear. "You should take care of the others. If these guys were kidnapping Huntsmen, this is most likely Aura-resistant rope."

"Is there such thing as Aura-resistant rope?" I asked as I searched the area around us. "How would you make rope that is resistant to Aura when Aura can affect everything?"

The blonde said nothing as he continued to strain against his bindings. "Umm… huh. Is there such a thing as Aura-resistant rope? What was I saying there? I swore I've heard of something like that before…" He shook his head. "Nevermind that! You know what I mean! The kind of rope that's hard for Huntsmen to break out of!"

I let out a chuckle. "Okay, I get what you mean. I was just— Aura-resistant rope? That's just— hehe. That was funny. Anyways, back to getting everyone out of here." As I approached one of the tied up bodies, I let my thoughts wander about the kidnappers. Did they somehow manage to kidnap all of the Stand users? I scratched my head. No, maybe not. If that was true, I would've seen Weiss and Blake's pajamas somewhere in this pile of bodies. But aside from Jaune, I don't recognize the sleepwear of any of these guys.

One of the kidnapped must've woken up, considering how he struggled against his binds. I turned to look at him. Unlike the others, he was shirtless, wearing only what I hope to be really short shorts and not boxer briefs. Maybe I should help him out first. The more people we have awake, the sooner we can find our way out of here.

A tail appeared from behind the boy, it grabbing the bag over his head. My eyes widened.

"Sun?"

The monkey faunus muffled something before realizing the tape over his mouth. His furry tail ripped it off promptly. "Ruby? What in the world? Where are we? Last time I checked, Beacon didn't have a giant forest growing in the middle of it."

"We're in the Emerald Forest, I think." I crept over to him and started untying his binds. "Jaune and I didn't really check the place out properly, but I think we're being kidnapped right now."

"Kidnapped?" Sun scratched his head with his tail. "Who in the world would kidnap a bunch of Huntsmen-in-Training? We can easily kick 'em around whenever we want! And it's not like we're going to listen to them anyways, so there's not really a point in trying to, I don't know, indoctrinate us or something."

I shrugged. "I'm just as confused as you, Sun." I let out a quiet yell of victory as the rope fell away. "Go help out and wake up the other guys. Whoever is kidnapping us, they can't possibly fight back against ten of us."

One by one, we learned the identities of those who were kidnapped. Besides the three already free, there was Cardin in a muscle tank… I think that's Nebula in some kind of pajama top. Is that her name? I wasn't really clear about it. Then there's Brawnz wearing a t-shirt and shorts, Cinder in a cami top, and then three other people I don't know. The boy I don't know wore flannel pajamas. For some reason, he was still wearing shades even in the dead of the night. One of the girls I didn't recognize wore a button down shirt and a beret. I raised my eyebrows at her. She didn't sleep in nightwear? The other girl, a dark-skinned girl with platinum blonde hair, was in a sleeping gown that somehow still looked easy to maneuver in.

Before we all knew it, all ten of us sat together within a circle. Cardin furrowed his eyebrows before clearing his throat. "We've waited long enough. Can somebody tell me what's going on here?"

Most of the people here shrugged. "I'm not quite sure myself," the boy in the flannel PJs sighed. "One moment I was woken up by who I thought was my partner Neon. She likes grabbing a late-night snack and all that. Before I knew it, I'm here in the forest."

"Wait a minute…" Brawnz scratched his head before sapping his fingers. "That happened to me as well! Somebody broke into my room and— Oh boy. The moment I figure out who that was, they are dead! Dead I say!" He started up to his feet.

"Geez, Brawnz. Sit back down." The girl in the pajama top grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. "I get you want to be with your team. I want to get back to NDGO and get our plan off of the ground. But we're not going to get anywhere if we go off and run into danger before we even know what we're going against."

Jaune tapped his chin before letting out a hum. "Wait a minute… something's off. I've just realized something. I'm the leader of JNPR. Ruby, you're the leader of RWBY. Cardin's the leader of CRDL. Branz, Nebula, Sun and Cinder are also leaders."

The girl in the beret tapped her wrist. "Ah, that's an interesting coincidence. One that I can support myself. I am Ciel Soleil of Team CPPR. Although team assignments are unnecessary within Atlas, I am for all purposes the leader of my team."

Flannel PJ man nodded with Ciel. "Same for me. Flynt Coal of FNKI." He turned towards the last unnamed girl. "And what about you?"

"Arslan Altan of ABRN." The girl with the platinum blonde hair brushed a lock to the side. "So we're all team leaders then?"

I sat up. "I guess so."

"But it doesn't make sense," Jaune muttered. "Why would these guys kidnap a bunch of first-year team leaders? It's an odd choice. Who would go through all of that risk to capture us when they can just as easily grab the rest of our teammates?"

"Whatever the reason is, there's one thing we should focus on right now." Sun nodded his head towards the open door. "We should take down the kidnappers while we're still free. We might be able to overwhelm them, but they have sleeping gas or something like that, then we'll just be captured again."

"Yeah, we'll have to deal with that." I stood up. "It's best if I go out first. I'm one of the smaller people here. I don't think anyone will notice me that easily. Plus, if I do get caught, I can easily escape using my Semblance. Somebody keep watch as I look around. I'll knock on the truck twice if the coast is clear."

Before anybody could say anything, I crawled over and leaped off the transport truck. A shiver went down my back as I felt the grass tickle my feet during my landing. I looked around. We were on some kind of open clearing. Actually, we were close to the edge where the clearing and the forest would meet. This looks pretty deep into the Forest, though. Not like the clearing at the edge of Beacon cliffs. Then again, I can't see Beacon cliffs from here. Just how far were we taken?

I looked around the corner of the truck. Huh… there's nobody around. I can't make out any kind of movement, talking, or whatever. Did the kidnappers leave us here? The truck doesn't look like it's broken or anything. I held my breath as I started towards the door. Maybe they're sleeping in the cabin? If that's the case, I could easily knock them out, grab a map, and have someone lead the way back to Beacon!

Should look first, though. I peered into the cabin to see… nothing. Nobody's inside. What? I rapped the side of the truck before testing the door. It opened with little resistance.

"Nobody?" Jaune asked as he hopped out of the truck. I shook my head, pulling myself into the driver's seat. Well, there's gotta be something within this truck that could help us learn about what's going on. Let's see… There are some papers stuck between the sun visor thingy. I snatched them. Written notes on some sticky notes, pictures of a woman— Ooh a lien chip! I lifted it up into the air. Oh wait, it's a one lien unit. Nevermind then. I wonder if there's anything written on these notes.

The yellow squares of parchment stuck to each other while I flipped through them.'Buy milk, eggs, and sugar for cake; decide on candidates for kidnapping at meeting; do standard maintenance for the three planted scrolls within forest for reception.' The fourth page was too smudged to make out what it had in the text. I scratched my head in confusion. What a weird list of notes.

Let's try the glove box and see if there's anything worth looking through in there. I flinched when a fountain of junk exploded out of the compartment the moment I touched it. Oh wow! Empty cigarette boxes bounced around the passenger seat alongside discarded burger wrappers and those fruit drinks in a pouch. I recoiled. That's gross! Who in the world uses a glove box as their personal garbage can? And from what I can see, there's nothing of value within the compartment. No maps, no clues, no nothing!

My eyes wandered towards the side compartment on the inside of the door. And, lo and behold, there was a bunch of maps stuffed within it. I sighed, rifling through them before lifting out the one for Emerald Forest.

"Okay guys!" I jumped out of the cabin. At this point the rest of the group was searching the area, trying to get a general idea of the area. I lifted the sheets of paper in the air. "Look what I found!"

"What is it?" Everybody collectively asked as they approached me. I handed the sticky notes to the first person to get to me, which happened to be Cardin.

"Well, while the notes are being passed, I have this map of the Emerald Forest. I'm no good with these things, but maybe somebody else can figure where we are and how to get out." I started unfolding the folded parchment. "The notes talk about how the kidnappers hid scrolls around the area. All we need to get out of here is to find one of these scrolls and call Beacon to send a Bullhead our direction!" I looked at the sizable group in front of me. "… Maybe two Bullheads. But if I'm right, we should be able to find the scrolls on this—"

My smile dropped the moment I got the map completely open. There wasn't a single marking on it. No indication of where we are, no indication of any hidden scrolls, no nothing. It's just a map of the Emerald Forest. "Oh no…" I dropped the map. "Well, um… nevermind then."

Everybody else leaned in to see the map. "Well, okay," Arslan noted. "Maybe we won't get an easy way to escape. That's fine. After all, we have a map to work with. We can just walk our way back."

"That just gave me a great idea!" Sun went in and snatched the map. "I have tons of experience surveying land! Used to do it all the time in Mistral! So how about this: I climb up the trees and bring everybody back in the general direction of Beacon? We'll all get out of there in no time!"

Flynt shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds pretty cool with me."

"But at the same time…" Ciel pressed her hand against her chin. "Obtaining the scrolls left by these kidnappers would be crucial to discovering their identities. There are no guarantees that the moment we escape, these individuals wouldn't kidnap somebody else. By taking those scrolls before leaving, I can say with ninety-five percent confidence that we can prevent future abductions."

The boy in the muscle tank nodded. "Beret girl has a point there. Sure, maybe we can easily escape from these guys, but what if somebody who doesn't have Huntsmen training got captured? They'll most likely get sold into slavery or something like that. And while I might not be the nicest of people, I don't think anybody deserves such a fate like that."

"Hmm… that's a good point," I sighed. "But how are we going to know where the phones are located? I really, really want to make sure nobody else gets kidnapped. At the same time, it's going to take us forever to find these scrolls if we don't know where to look! Emerald Forest is huge! It's the size of the Industrial District and the Agricultural District combined! How will we find these scrolls?"

"I think I have an answer for that." Branz held the smudged note up. "I thought it was kinda strange that there was a piece of paper with the writing all smudged up. It's such a Nolan thing to do. Something I've learned from his messiness is to basically hold the paper up at an angle, then use light to figure out the general gist of the indentations." His eyebrows wrinkled. "Normally I would also use a camera to get the complete picture, but I could make out a couple of numbers and letters."

"Really?" Nebula asked. "I didn't know you could do that, Branz. What do they say?"

"N 37°20'52.009", W 121°57'15.919" for one of them. N 37°19'55.015", W 121°52'51.423" for the next one. … I think N 37°17'3.961", W 121°56'53.671" for the last one." The boy in the t-shirt nodded. "Yeah, that looks right. Those are coordinates. And if I'm right, that's most likely where the kidnappers placed all of the scrolls."

"Well, okay then!" I started stretching my arms. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go right now! No, wait. Maybe we can get this done faster if we split the group into three and have each one go after a different scroll."

Jaune nodded. "But at the same time, we have to consider that we're in Grimm territory without our weapons." I bit my lip. Oh yeah, that's right. There's still the Grimm we have to deal with. "We need to split the group based on who can fight with their fists or clubs."

"Well, I can fight with my fists," Cinder noted.

Arslan nodded. "So can I."

Branz nodded. "Me too. I'm going to be less effective without my weapons, but I can manage."

Cardin scoffed. "A branch will have to do, but I can fight as well."

"Okay then!" I pointed at a couple of people. "Branz, Cardin, and Flynt can be a group. Then Jaune, Ciel, and Cinder can be another. I'll be with Arslan and Nebula. And Sun, how about you keep watch on everyone? Since you have the most experience with surveying, you should be able to keep watch on everyone else." And with that, every group should have at least two members who can fend off against the Grimm.

The monkey faunus nodded. "So… does anyone have a pen or something? We should write down these coordinates and figure out how to get over to the scrolls."

"I'm sure that we can find a couple in the truck," I shrugged.

"Cool, thanks." I watched as Sun walked over to the truck and opened it up. "Oh wow! This place is a dump!"

"Not my fault!" I yelled back, hiding a grin from everyone else. "I totally found it like this!

* * *

 

Not much time passed until I left with Ciel and Cinder. Turns out, Sun's actually pretty good at drawing, and soon he made rough copies of the map on every note for reference. A sigh escaped my mouth as I looked at the parchment of paper. If I'm reading this right, we should be going in the right direction. I just wish we didn't have to go through this dense part of the forest. There's not a lot of room to fight, should something go wrong.

"So, Ciel." I glanced at the girl. "That's your name, right?"

The girl in the beret nodded. "That's an accurate statement."

"I don't remember seeing you in class. Did you arrive recently?"

She kept her eyes on the trees. "My team arrived in the winter months. We've been here in the city of Vale for fourteen weeks and three days." Ciel held a hand up as I tried to say something. "I believe that you didn't see us because Atlesian teams work differently to the traditional Hunter team system. If memory serves correctly, you're assigned to four-member teams for four years, right?" I nodded. "In Atlas, we often don't assign teams for that long. If anything, we switch up our teams every other week."

A hum escaped my mouth. "Huh. But wouldn't that make team bonds weaker?"

Ciel nodded. "At the same time, there's a more intimate connection between every Huntsmen within a certain year. We live in an area that would otherwise be considered inhospitable. It's important to realize that our lives could easily be taken away, whether it's due to the Grimm or due to the environment itself. Being attached to a collective as a whole is more important to our survival than a strong sense of trust amongst small groups of four."

"That's… pretty interesting, I guess." I scratched the back of my head. "So what about the Vytal Festival Tournament? You guys are put into groups of four."

"We're assigned a group that would be considered our "battle group." It's the composition that we'll use during the Vytal Festival. It's based on the traditional Huntsmen team assignment system. Otherwise, we keep doing what we always do, and train within the airships instead of within a school campus. It gives the Atlesian military access to us to whenever we need to be deployed right away, and we don't need to explain to others about how we normally operate."

"Um…" A small whine escaped my mouth. "Okay… Why didn't you just say you guys trained within the airships instead of going into that long talk about the Atlesian Hunter System?"

"Hmm?" Ciel turned to look at me. "You wanted a straight answer? I'm sorry, I thought this was supposed to be small talk done to pass time while we make our way to the next objective. To be frank, I'm not really adept at catching these kinds of social cues, so you'll have to forgive me if I make this kind of mistake again."

"It's okay, I guess?" I rubbed the back of my neck. "It wasn't a complete waste of time, I think. Is there anything else about Atlas that's radically different from the other Academies?"

"Well, there's the idea that solo Huntsmen missions can be assigned to Huntsmen-in-Training." She rubbed a part of her wrist that had a watch tan. "The question of which missions is strictly classified, and I can't reveal anymore without compromising myself."

"That's fine." We continued on our way towards the scroll location. "Well, what about food? I was surprised to hear that Atlas even has cuisine when the land there is—"

"Wait." Cinder held her hand up. The entire group stopped in place. "Be quiet for a moment. I think I heard something." I held my breath as I tried to listen for any signs of movement, like rustling leaves or snapping branches. Something that indicated Grimm. We all stood silent for what felt like a solid minute. Nothing. "Hmm… I must've been imagining it," she stated. "I guess it's fine if we just continued on—"

A howl escaped from the leaves, causing me to flinch. A shadowy black figure burst out from the woods, teeth and claws bared towards us as it soared into the air. I let out a yelp, backing away as I brought my Stand out to fight. A fiery punch soared through the air, nailing the attacking Beowolf in the face and sending it careening back into the woods. My face flew towards Cinder, who still had tiny embers flickering off of her hand.

"Hmm… we better hurry up," Ciel noted as the launched Beowolf got back up. "Where there's a Beowolf, there's a pack. And it's unlikely that you, Cinder, will be able to fight the entire pack with nothing but your fists. I don't mean any offense to your combat skills, but understand that—"

"I get it," Cinder growled as her amber eyes flickered through the trees. Several beady red eyes started appearing through the foliage. "Thank you. But we don't exactly have a choice on the matter if I'm the only person who can fight."

 **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** enveloped me for a moment. "Not quite. I might not be that useful in fending off the Grimm in hand-to-hand combat, but I still have my… Semblance to work with." I snatched a couple of blades of grass, splitting them into several small pieces. They grew heavy in my hands as my Stand went to work. "I can make things really dense and fire them off like Dust bullets." To make my point, I flicked a piece of the plant matter at one of the pairs of red eyes. A howl escaped its mouth as the blade of grass drilled through it, shutting off its lights forever. I could barely make out ichor splattering on the other side of the tree.

"You could do that all this time?" Cinder scowled, punching another approaching Grimm to the side. "Why didn't you say something about it earlier?"

"Because I never expected something like this to happen! I was thinking we might run into one of the bigger Grimm like Ursa or something. Something easy to fight one-vs-one. But who knew that there was going to be a massive pack of Beowolves hunting at night?"

"... I'm not even doing to address the error in logic of that statement," Ciel chirped up. "Beowolves, while more active than other nocturnal creatures during the day, are still nocturnal. They're willing to travel during any time of day if it meant that they can find their prey unaware, which at the moment is us."

Cinder jabbed a thumb at the girl. "What she said. Out of all of the reasons you could've possibly picked—" She took a deep breath in, allowing her scowl to disappear almost instantly. "My apologies. It's the lack of sleep talking. I shouldn't let my tiredness get to me, and venting on you won't help matters. However…" The girl in the cami top gestured towards the other Grimm. "If you're able to do that, you should be able to shoot all of them, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah." A hum escaped my mouth. "How about this: all three of us back up towards that tree over there. You stand in the front and take on any Grimm that charges us, Cinder. Ciel, you stay in the back and say whether there are any Grimm approaching. I'll stick in the middle and shoot them down one by one until we're in the clear. Got it?"

The amber-eyed girl frowned for a moment before nodding. "That'll work. We'll make it out that way. I'd rather not have to be on the defensive, though. It's better if we just— Well—" Her eyes flickered at each of the Grimm before swallowing. "I don't like the thought of making a mistake we'll all regret. One wrong move, and everything will fall apart."

"Well, we can just run away if you're worried about having your Aura broken," I shrugged, firing another piece of grass the moment one of the Beowolves rushed forward. It couldn't even get out a howl when the plant pierced through its throat, sending it into a tumble. "Travel by jumping through the trees, grab the scroll, and run back to our meeting spot."

Cinder glanced at Ciel. "On second thoughts, let's back up into that tree. Taking it slow is a better idea. We'll whittle down the Grimm eventually, if you're careful with your shots."

I nodded, backing up with the rest of the group. "Trust me, I know what's at stake, too."

By the time we got into position, several Beowolves revealed themselves out from the forest. Dripping black saliva stained the grass as they circled around us. They seem to be holding back instead of rushing towards us. I raised my eyebrow. That's weird… I thought Grimm were supposed to be dumb, acting completely on instinct. Or maybe… do they realize that I have a weapon and are staying back for the sake of safety? Do Grimm even have a sense of self-preservation? Well, the older ones do. Port always said that the younger Grimm are more reckless, but it's the Emerald Forest! It's regularly cleared by the Huntsmen! Did we get unlucky and run into an elder pack?

Okay, Jaune. Calm down for just a moment. Think this through slowly. There's roughly around… seven pairs of red eyes still visible. Two Beowolves fizzled into smoke on the ground, mouth wide open in surprise. Alright, if I keep a cool head and not fire randomly, I can easily deal with them as they approach us. Even if these Beowolves are older than I think they are, they still go down with one good shot. We can afford to wait this out. I thumbed one of the blades of grass. Just wait for something to lose patience and pounce at— Wait a minute. I looked up. One of the glowing red eyes are in the leaves. How did a Beowolf get up there—

A high-pitched screech escaped from the canopy, getting my blood to run cold. Oh gods no. It can't be. The Cupid emerged from the green leaves a second later, aiming the Arrow right at my face. My eyes widened. Oh— I threw myself to the side the second I recognized that bronze Arrow, firing several grass bullets at the creature. It tittered, swinging itself lazily over the grass before landing on the ground.

Ciel let out a gasp. "What in the world am I looking at? Is that a Grimm baby—" The Cupid lunged towards the girl.

"No!" I increased the volume of the grass before firing it at the girl in the beret. Instead of piercing through her, Ciel coughed as the shot knocked her over.

"Jaune, what the hell?!" Cinder turned her head towards me. "Why did you shoot Ciel?"

"Not the time to mention it!" I ripped a bunch of grass from the ground. "Guys, listen to me! No matter what happens, do not let that Arrow cut you! We're all going to die if that happens!"

Cinder narrowed her eyes. "And how would you know something like that will happen—"

At that moment, the crowd of Beowolves must've thought it was a great time to attack, because a series of howls brought my attention back to them. I bit my lip seeing all six of them rushing towards us. What the—! I staggered back, firing a few blades of grass into the crowd. Most of them missed, sending small patches of dirt into the air, although I managed to get a couple of grazing shots. "Cinder! They're coming!"

She swung right around, slapping a pouncing Beowolf in the face and knocking it aside. I put a hole in its head a split second later, splattering the black oily substance over the floor. My feet started tapping the ground. What should I go after? The Beowolves, or the Cupid? If I focus on the Beowolves, the Cupid might transform either Cinder or Ciel into Stand users, and who knows what would happen? But if I focus on the Cupid, Cinder might be overwhelmed by the Grimm, and then I'm going to die, and then Ciel will die!

I glanced at the Cupid. It was making its way up the tree we were backed against, letting out a small giggle as it stared at us. I gotta drive the monster away first. That's my main priority. I'll then thin out the crowd for Cinder so that she can fight on her own. Once that's done, I'll try to chase after the Cupid— No. I'm not sure if I can find it after the battle ends. But I should call Ruby as soon as possible and tell her about it. Yeah, I'll go for the scroll and call everyone else. They'll find their assigned scrolls easily and then we can make sure everyone keeps an eye out for the Cupid.

With that in mind, I raised my hand up and fired several blades of grass at the climbing Grimm baby. A shriek escaped its mouth as it slammed the Arrow into the trunk of the tree. All of my shots missed the moment it swung itself around the shaft of the arrow. They instead slammed into the base of the branch above the Cupid. I tsked. Come on, run away! I fired another piece of grass at the point where the Arrow and the tree met, splitting the bark away from the trunk. Of course, it didn't do too much: the Grimm still floated in the air instead of falling like I thought it would.

But it did let out an angry wail, backing away as it held the Arrow close to its chest. Wait a minute… is it trying to protect the Arrow? Why would it do something like that if the Arrow isn't— Aha! A smile crawled up my face. No matter how powerful the Arrow is, at the end of the day it's still a regular object! The Cupid isn't going to do anything that could get the Arrow destroyed! That's how I drive it away!

The floating Grimm baby glared at me as I pointed my closed hand at it. I gotcha now. Several blades of grass whistled through the air, the shots flying both towards the arrowhead and the Cupid itself. The baby's face went livid as it drifted away from the rest of us, allowing the rounds to soar over its head. By now it was roughly ten-ish meters away from us. I hope that gives us enough time to react to anything it does.

"Ciel! Watch the baby Grimm floating around! Make sure it doesn't try anything!" I turned over to Cinder to see her with her fists raised, breathing heavily as the five Beowolves remained standing. While most of them had charred skin, I didn't see any new bodies aside from the ones I've already killed. They seemed content with staying a couple of meters away from us, circling around us. "What happened, Cinder? Why aren't any of them dead?"

"... Hit and run tactics," she responded, wiping the sweat off her brow. "They don't open themselves up for me long enough to get any solid hits in." I don't know about that… all of those burn marks look like solid hits to me. Is she holding back? Not killing Grimm for some reason? I never thought Cinder to be any kind of pacifist. "At least this means that none of them are going to approach us. What about that… that baby Grimm? Is it still there?"

"Hopefully not for long." A grass bullet flew through one of the Beowolves, bringing the pack size down to four members. "We better get moving the moment the last Beowolf falls. We need to warn everybody about that baby Grimm, and fast. Ciel, is it still there?"

"It's not moving at the moment, but it's still watching us," she confirmed.

I ripped up more grass and stuffed them into my fist. "Good. Maybe it'll give us the opening we need to get out of here." There's no way it's not going to attack us while I'm busy fighting against the pack. I have to find the Alpha. Maybe then the rest of the pack will go away. I glanced at the encircling Grimm. Come on, it shouldn't be that hard. It's the more bony one. Yet despite all of my efforts, not one of them had more armor than the other. Did I already shoot the Alpha? But if I did, they should've been scattered by now. Why haven't they left? Unless… unless there's another Alpha that I'm not seeing.

Suddenly, the pack started backing away. I raised my eyebrow. What? Now they decide it's time to run? But why? Why would they back away now? It makes absolutely no sense at all. But if it gives us a breather— A sense of dread hit me. Wait a minute. One, two, three, four Beowolves still standing. Then there are the three on the ground. That's seven. Then there's the Cupid. That's eight. But isn't there supposed to be—

My ears picked up the sounds of something rushing towards me from my right. The Alpha Beowolf! My arm flicked over to the monster, sending a blade of grass through its gut. It stumbled for just a moment before pouncing at me and knocking me down. It bared its teeth at me, splattering dark ichor on my face before lunging towards my throat. Oh—! I threw my forearm into the monster's mouth, increasing its density. Instead of ripping a chunk of my flesh clean off like Beowolves were known to do, it sank half an inch into my arm.

I squeezed my eyes shut in pain and let out a ghastly howl as my blood splattered over my onesie. Agh! Somehow my body responded to me, my shooting hand pressing against the Beowolf's temple and flicking a blade of grass through its brain. The color in its malicious eyes slowly drained as that familiar black oily substance spilled out from both holes in its head.

"Ugh…" Ciel moaned. Wait, what? I glanced up at the girl in the beret, who pulled her face away from the tree trunk. She had her head clutched as she tried to bring herself back up to a kneeled position. Wait a minute… did the Alpha Beowolf catch her too with a leg or something? But if she's right now trying to recover from a concussion… Oh no! The Cupid!

A squeal escaped from the baby Grimm. I glanced behind me to see it dive bombing towards us, Arrow pointing right at Ciel. I gotta stop it! But it's moving so fast! If I shoot at it and I miss, Ciel's going to get stabbed! But how do I hit it? It can move so well in the air even at fast speeds! My eyes flew around the area. It's going to be too late if I try to warn Cinder. But how can I— My vision settled on the tree. That's it!

I fired the rest of my grass bullets at the tree branch I shot earlier. The rounds pierced through the wood and the heavy branch finally broke loose, swinging down towards us. The Cupid turned its head as the Arrow came dangerously close to her neck to see the bushy branch approaching it.

Only a single shriek escaped out of its mouth before the branch slammed into both Ciel and the Cupid. I fumbled at the grass as I started pushing the Beowolf body off of me. I hope I got it before it reached Ciel. "Cinder!" I yelled. "This is your chance! Kill the baby Grimm now while it's stunned!"

The girl in the cami top nodded, rushing towards the branch and lifting it up. "... It's gone."

I blinked. "What?"

"It's like it disappeared, Jaune. I can't find it anywhere."

A shot of panic ran through me. Adrenaline ran through my veins as I yanked my arm out from the Beowolf's mouth and shoved it off of me. "Check on Ciel! Make sure she doesn't have any cuts on her!" I pulled myself up as she did that. This isn't good. This isn't good at all. How can it just disappear? I know for a fact that something like that just can't be possible! We've never seen it teleport away… ever! So how did it get away? I ran over to the branch and lifted it up. Just like Cinder said, it wasn't here at all. I looked at the two girls. "What about Ciel? Is she fine?"

"No cuts as I can see," the amber-eyed girl replied. I sighed in relief. So I saved her in time. "I think she's suffering from shock, though. Her skin's clammy, she's breathing quick, shallow breaths." She pressed a finger against the girl's neck. "Her pulse is weak. We have to hurry up and find that scroll. Shock can kill a person even with Aura." She turned her head towards me, moving as little of her body as possible. "You go on ahead and look for it. You're not carrying her anywhere with that arm of yours. I'm the only one who's in perfect condition."

I nodded, starting towards the direction of the scroll. Cinder knelt down and propped Ciel against the tree. She mumbled something to the girl, but I couldn't hear a thing Cinder was saying. I was too busy focusing on finding the scroll. Okay, repeat the plan in your head, Jaune. Find the scroll, call Ruby, warn her about the Cupid, call for evacuation. Find the scroll, call and warn Ruby, call for evac. Simple enough.

A glint of metal caught my eye as I made my way through the forest. The scroll! I leaped at it in an instant, snatching it the device up and opening it. On it had two numbers within its contacts. Maybe they're the two other scrolls in the forest? I hit one of the buttons and held the scroll up to my face. Come on, please. Somebody pick up. Our lives depend on it!

* * *

 

The sounds of ringing caused Arslan, Nebula, and I to jump in surprise. "What the— Hey guys, do you think that's our scroll?" Nebula asked.

I nodded. "I don't think it could be anything else. All we have to do is follow the sound of the ringing and—" A glint of something caught my eye. A flashing yellow diamond appeared from the dirt. "Aha!" I ran over and snatched it. "Somebody must've already found their own scroll! We'll be out of here in no time!" I opened it. "Hello?"

Jaune's face appeared in my screen. One of his arms was covered in blood, while specks of dirt and Grimm ichor dotted his face. His blue eyes widened in recognition. "Ruby!"

"Wha—" I nearly dropped the scroll. "Jaune? What happened?"

"Run-in with a pack of Beowolves. I had to use my Stand and an Alpha nearly bit my arm off. I'm fine, though. But Ruby, the Arrow's here."

My eyes widened. "What? Did you just say—"

"Yeah. The Cupid's— wait. Is anybody close to you?" I looked up to see both Nebula and Arslan appearing out from the foliage. I nodded my head. His voice dropped to a whisper. "You have to call the last group. Warn the people you're with and the next group about the Cupid and what to do. I have to call for a Bullhead right now. Ciel, the girl with the beret's going through shock. Tell them to meet up where I'm calling from. Not Sun's spot."

"Okay. Gotcha. Take care, Jaune." I shut off the scroll and looked at the other two girls. Nebula had her eyebrows raised, while Arslan gave me a weird look. I let out a sigh. "We have a problem. One of us got injured. We have to change where we meetup to where Ciel is right now."

Nebula let out a gasp. "Wait, what? One of us got injured? How?"

"Jaune didn't say. Just that she's going through shock and that he needed to call for a Bullhead immediately." I already started scrolling through the device, looking for the phonebook. "I'm going to call the other group, then we'll all move towards Ciel's location using the GPS— No wait! Sun's not going to know about the change! We need somebody to go get him, fast! Ciel's life might rely on it!"

We all stood silent for a moment. "Why can't it be you, Ruby?" Nebula asked. "You're the fastest one with your Semblance."

"Well… uh…" I tapped my fingers as I let out a nervous chuckle. "I don't remember how to get back to Sun. And I don't know how to read a map." The other short-haired girl let out a groan.

"Oh, for the love of— I'll go!" Nebula snatched the scrap of paper Sun drew a sketch on. "I'll just use the trees to avoid the Grimm. I'm pretty agile. Gods know I practiced climbing way too much in recent memory. Don't ask why. You'll get it in the morning." She started back. "Just… don't leave this spot, okay? You're the only one with the scroll. And Arslan, you'll guard Ruby, right?" The girl with the platinum blonde hair nodded. "Alright then. I'll be back with Sun before you know it."

I turned back to Arslan as Nebula left our sights. She had her arms crossed. She's still giving me that stare, like she's suspicious of something. I mentally waved it off. Maybe it's just a stoic nature. Ren does that sometimes, just staring off into space with a serious glare when inside he's feeling neutral. I opened the phone app and hit the only unrecognizable phone number. I tapped my feet listening to the tone dial. Come on, somebody pick up. Please.

A smooth, jazzy voice came from the other end. "Hey. Flynt here. Thanks for the help. We've been digging around the area without a clue of where the scroll was. Who's on the other end?"

"Flynt, it's me, Ruby. There's a change in plans. Instead of meeting back up with Sun, go over to the location of the other group's scroll. One of their members is injured, and they're calling for a Bullhead on their location. We're grabbing Sun right now, and we'll meet up with the rest."

"That's cool with me. Better to get emergency care for any injured as soon as possible. Branz, Cardin, and I will be there." Flynt made some kind of sighing sound. "We'll see you there."

"Oh wait! Shoot, I forgot to tell Nebula this!" I rubbed my head. "Stupid. Stupid. There's a Grimm out there that the other group ran into. It looks like a human baby, if the baby was turned into a Grimm. It has a bronze, ornate arrow in its hands. If your group runs into it, do not let the Arrow cut you. It will not end well. And don't bother fighting it. The Grimm flies, and it's way too fast to hit. Just run."

"… Okay. We'll keep an eye out. Anything else?"

"No."

"Alright then." The call ended.

"Hmm…" I looked up to see Arslan with her hand on her chin. "That's interesting…"

I raised my eyebrow. "What's interesting?"

"You talking about that creature. It's odd how you worded it. You sounded like you were familiar with this baby Grimm. Like you fought it before."

My gut twisted hearing that. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that you must've paid a lot of attention to this creature to know that it could fly, even though I know for a fact that we never ran into it. No, but the most interesting thing I learned is that a creature of Grimm is holding my heritage in its hands, and that others are looking for its powers." A figure appeared right behind her, throwing a red glob right at me. My eyes widened. She's a Stand user!

Rose flew in front of me, slapping away the goo. Instead of flying away, it coated Rose's right arm. I scowled as the heat of the substance burned right into my skin. Arslan continued: "I knew something was weird about this place. About how despite the last sighting of the 'fantasma velos' being lost in some Valean ruin, Stand users still appeared. Many uncles and aunts died trying to find our heritage. My parents wanted me to stay away from this fight, thinking this fight was fruitless. But knowing who has the fantasma velos gives me hope. I can finally break my family from their destiny. Our quest to find this… Arrow is coming to a close."

Her Stand appeared in front of her. The gold and red humanoid woman had several intricate lines engraved on it. They would loop over and over again, creating something that can continue on almost forever. Something interesting I noticed was that there were two small round plates resting on her forearms, like bucklers. Each one had deep grooves that resembled the logo on the back of her pajamas. Said bucklers looked like they were on a rail leading all the way to the Stand's hands. She widened her stance, brushing a lock of hair out of her face as she jabbed a finger at me.

"The Altan family has suffered for generations following the loss of our heirloom. We, as the guardians of the Arrow, would throw our lives away and die destroying Stands born from the hearts of evil men. I will not let this happen anymore. I, Arslan Altan and my Stand will break this cycle. On my family name and **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES,** **」** I will take back my family's life and redeem ourselves." The bucklers flew towards the Stand's knuckles, locking in place. It reminded me of those boxing pads Yang made me put on before she pummeled my hands for practice. **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** huffed as it took on a boxer's pose.

Arslan gave me a glare that revealed nothing but murderous determination. "And I'll stop everyone who tries to take it away."

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = January 5, 2018**

* * *

**Gwen's Bizarre Adventure - Act 3**

It didn't take long for me to reach the Headmaster's Tower. It was a paranoia-fest the whole entire time, though. There's one big reason as for why: the car was really, really loud. This thing was an absolute monster, just growling and howling without a care in the world. Even when I'm on the opposite end of the dorms, I swear somebody's probably heard this thing go off. I'm starting to regret making this car the choice. Or maybe I should've just switched the thing to neutral and just pushed it all the way over here. I sighed. Well, I made my bed. Might as well sleep in it.

I pulled the paper clip out the moment I parked the car, cutting off the power and stopping that infernal noise. Moments later, I jumped out and climbed on the jeep's roof. I'm not going to have much time. I have to get this done as fast as possible. With that, I started rigging the thing together while my Mystique started throwing the weights out. First get the metal loop rig then superglue it to the car. It sounds weird, especially since I have  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** to help me out here. But at the same time, if I forget and call back my Mystique, this jeep can say bye bye, and well… that would be terrible. At least superglue doesn't require me to remember.

And for one last thing. I looked at the designated drop point. And there was a ridiculous amount of steel cable. Hopefully, it's twice as long as the tower, but I couldn't help but let out a grin. Say what you want about NDGO, but we can deliver on getting this kind of ridiculous stuff.

With that done, I took the giant carabiner, tied it to the metal cable tightly, then clipped it into the metal loop. I gave it a couple of test tugs. It's solid as a rock. Hopefully this'll hold up until the morning. And as for the weight… I looked behind me to see  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** attaching it to her back. A smile crawled up my face. We're ready.

Some of the steel cables hung loosely across my body as I approached the tower, my Mystique following closely behind. I looked up once I reached it. Well, this is going to be one hell of a climb. Whoever designed this thing one: really liked Gothic architecture, and two: hated anybody who wanted to climb up this thing and hang a jeep on top of it. For one thing, this is straight up a skyscraper. Public records say that this thing is roughly one hundred fifty meters from the ground to the top. I've never climbed anything that big before, so that's going to be a major problem.

But here's the thing: I also have to bring a car to the top of it. And with how this tower's designed, I can't exactly do that by going straight up. No, I'm going to have to climb one of the giant side columns, set up a pulley there, move up the archivolt, set up a pulley on that side, and then scale the tower. From there I set up the pulley, string the steel cable through, then run down and finish setting up the pulley system before yanking the car up with  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** and holding it up with the weight. I sighed. Yeah, this is really complicated for some lien.

"High five,  **「** **LADY MARMALADE,** **」** " I said, offering my hands up to the spirit. She slapped them back, making the surface of my gloves sticky to the touch. Strong enough so that my own body weight can be held up, but hopefully weak enough so that I can pull it away and continue up the tower. I let her do the same thing to the tip of my boots. Alright, only one thing left to do. Start the climb.

I leaped onto the side column, slamming into it face first. My body didn't move an inch. Yes! Alright, it's time to scale the tower like how Ecru Hunt climbed the Atlesian Tower in the fourth Mission: Improbable movie. Man, I liked that one, but it's absolutely insane how the actor for Ecru decides to actually do these stunts. Like that airplane scene in the fifth movie, just… why? They're awesome without a doubt, but geez. Balls of steel right there.

But there's an important difference between him and me. At least with acting, they have rigs to make sure that if the stunt goes wrong; there are harnesses that can catch the guy that plays Ecru. I, on the other hand, have supernatural powers that allow me to climb without special gear. But at the same time, a single mess up means that I will end up as a stain on the ground; depending on where I drop, probably even if I have my Aura up. I shivered. What a horrible fate. Almost as bad as getting caught by Professor Goodwitch and being punished. A sigh escaped my mouth. I guess that just means that I can't afford to mess up.

And with that, I started my perilous climb up. It sounded pretty obvious in my head, but climbing up a tower with several floors is a lot different than scaling a two-story building like in Vacuo. I winced as a gust of wind smacked at my face. More wild as well. At least that's not combined with sand. Oh gods, a sandstorm climbing up the tower would be the worst.  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** hovered right behind me, still carrying that weight without even breaking a sweat. Lucky her for having basically infinite stamina. All I can do is hope my arms don't feel like jelly at the end of it.

Nothing eventful happened climbing up the side column. I managed to get up there fairly quickly and applied a pulley with a bit of superglue. Then it was a relatively calm walk to the top of the archivolt and another moment where I attached that pulley to the building. I'd say not even an hour passed while I was getting that done.

But the tower was a different beast altogether. Not only was it big, but it had so many random ridges and curves that I had to climb over. Normally to a climber, that would be paradise to have any kind of railing to get over. For me, that is absolute hell. Since I'm using a Mystique instead of actual finger strength and technique, I'm probably using my energy inefficiently. And every ridge and curve meant I had to waste a bit of movement to get over those obstacles. And it adds up.

I scaled two-thirds of the tower before I noticed how ragged my breaths were. Oh man. I underestimated how tiring this would be. Ooh, my muscles feel so tingly right now. Well, that's something new I realized about my powers. Even when I have  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** to help me scale the tower, I'm still using my muscles to get up there. And without Aura, muscles get tired real easily. I winced at the realization. I've never had this problem since I started climbing. But I think my muscles are starting to reach the upper bounds of what they can handle. That's not good.

Then there was the true challenge in sight right now: the office itself. For one thing, the outside of it is glass instead of concrete here, which will make me loud as I'm climbing this part. I never had the chance to check on the Beacon Headmaster's schedule, but if he's in there, I have to take extra care to make sure that he doesn't see me.

The other problem is getting to the windows in the first place. This tower looks like it's sloping up close to the top. And that's not considering the overhang that I have to pull myself up over. I'm going to be suspended in the air at that point, with only my hands keeping me stuck to the tower. My breaths are starting to speed up. What a challenge… I gritted my teeth. Even more reason to make it to the top! If we need a spectacle to impress everyone, we'll make one!

I steeled my body, pushing myself to the limit. One third left to go! I can make it! Push forwards! My arms were getting wobbly. I picked up the pace, ignoring the increasing numbness in my arms. I'm going to get up there if that's the last thing I do! Focus on keeping your breath smooth and clear. Make clean, assured movements up. The small light coming from the windows of the tower came in sight. So close!

A couple of heart-pounding minutes later, I'm maybe a couple of meters below the ledge thing. I let out a sigh of relief. I made it. Whew, that's the excitement I've come to know and love. I'm so close to the end… but now for the hard part. I glanced at one of the last obstacles in my way. I have no idea if I can even make it past this. I'm so close to my limit. My arms feel so numb right now, it's not even funny. But there's gotta be a way to get up there without wasting any more energy. But I gotta be fast.

I glanced at my watch. I've been climbing for almost two hours now. Actually pretty fast now that I think about it. Looking down, I can still see the jeep there. So that's good. But I have to be on a time crunch now. So only one thing remains: how am I going to finish this?

**=TBC=**


	27. Through Fire and Flames

I tapped my foot on the ground as the dial-up tone rang against my ear. From the corner of my eye, I could make out Cinder starting a small fire next to Ciel. My gods… the girl looked so pale… I focused my attention back to the call. Come on, somebody please pick up. Ciel's life depends on it! There has to be somebody in Beacon who has to still be awake! Come on, somebody for the love of gods please pick up—

A clear digital voice appeared from the speaker. "Hello! This is Beacon Academy's CCT AI Mala. I'm here to receive all calls from non-Huntsmen and transfer them to the proper channels. How may I help you?"

"Oh thank gods." I let out a sigh of relief. "Mala, my name's Jaune Arc. I'm a Huntsman-in-Training from Beacon and we have an emergency. I need you to send a Bullhead to my location right now!"

"Give me a moment." A beep sounded. "Hmm… your voice signature matches up with the ones we have on file, but I've identified your school-assigned scroll to be on the premises of Beacon Academy. Then there's the issue of your call coming from an unregistered scroll. Can you explain this discrepancy?"

"All of the team leaders were kidnapped during the night and transported to the Emerald Forest." My foot started bouncing again. "But we can't worry about that right now. We have Ciel Soleil undergoing shock, and we need medical help from Beacon!"

The AI let out a hum of understanding. "… I see. While my parameters state that I cannot send a Bullhead to any unidentified numbers, I will notify all team members and the deputy of Beacon Academy immediately of this situation. Please hold while I reroute your call to Deputy Glynda Goodwitch."

The speaker switched to the sounds of classical music. Just then Cinder appeared by my side, dusting off her gloved hands. "I've done as much as I can about the girl. What's the progress on the Bullhead?"

"Currently on hold," I said as I glanced at the black. "Is Ciel fine?"

"She's doing fine. I've done as much as possible to treat her, but now it's out of my hands. We can't really do much with—"

A crackle interrupted the classical music playing, replaced with a tired yawn. Professor Goodwitch's voice spoke from the speaker. "This is Professor Glynda Goodwitch speaking. Is Jaune still here?"

"Yes!" I held the device closer to my face. "Professor, you have to help us! We have a—"

"A situation that involves the kidnapping of several team leaders. Mala gave me a good summary of the incident. The school's working hard at this moment to prep several Bullheads for rescue. We're going to track you you you—" Her voice started getting all static, warping her words in an eerie fashion. "—landing zone?"

"Umm… Professor? You're getting a lot of interference. Can you say that again?"

"I'm— interference on your end, maybe— disrupt signal?"

My eyes widened. "The kidnappers! They might have one of those signal jammers, like…" I snapped my fingers trying to recall the term. "—like an ECM jammer or something!"

The professor's voice was almost nothing but static. "Jaune, get to— Bullheads and wait—" Her voice disappeared entirely, replaced with a single long ring.

"Oh gods, that's not good." I closed the scroll shut. "Somebody's jamming our signal. I can't call anyone."

"Well, great." Cinder sighed as she crossed her arms. "And I really don't feel like being in this forest any longer than necessary. At this point, we're going to need to do this the old-fashioned way."

I raised my eyebrows. "Do you think it's a great idea to move with Ciel still going through… you know."

"Well, it's either we move or we burn in an attempt to light a signal fire. I already have a small campfire going. Shouldn't take much to create a signal fire out of this." She turned around. "Come on. We need to find some flat ground, burnable materials, and something oily. We need all the time we have right now."

I nodded, staring at Ciel one last time before heading out to the woods. Hold on, Ciel. We're getting help.

* * *

The roaring sounds of the Bullhead engines rumbled in my ears as I made last minute checks to Gambol Shroud. Across from me were Weiss and Yang, doing similar checks with their weapons. My partner also had the folded up sniper scythe resting at her side. Every couple of seconds the blonde would glance at the weapon, then look away before continuing to do her regular weapons check.

The last time we were this tense was when we flew over to Forever Fall for that extermination mission. That seemed like so long ago, now that I think about it. To think that day was the moment when everything changed. One day we were fighting mechs on the highway and debating on whether to go to a school dance. Then the next we blew up a cafe to take down a girl who can make surfaces sticky. How life can change so quickly.

I adjusted my bow before sitting up. "So, do we have any plan on how we find every single team leader in school?"

The two both shook their heads. "If the CCT signals are being disrupted right now, we can't really track them down," Weiss started. The bags under her eyes were noticeable. Granted, everybody had them, considering we didn't get a second of sleep before this. Still, it looked especially bad on the heiress. She continued: "I'm hoping that one of the team leaders would have some kind of signal to get our attention, like a mirror or a signal fire. Hopefully, everybody will be in a single group by the time we find them. Especially with that injured person."

"Right." I popped open the door to the Bullhead, exposing everyone to the night sky. Invisible whips lashed at my face, stinging my skin and blowing my hair all over the place. "And this is where I come in. We have Crescent Rose on us right now, right? Can I borrow it?"

Yang nodded, grabbing the weapon and pressing it into my hands. "You remember how to pop the sights out, right?" I shook my head. She pointed at a button on the right-hand side of the rifle, just below the top ridge. "Manual mechanism for the scope's right here." Her hand lingered for a bit as I pulled Crescent Rose away from her, activated the mechanism, and held it up to my eyes. Currently nothing but trees. My cat ears picked up softer whirs. Nine or so more Bullheads are flying in the air, each with a different first-year team on it. All of them searching for their missing teammate.

"So… Yang." Weiss' voice was a little soft. "Are you… fine?"

"What?" The brawler let out a nervous chuckle. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, a lot of things happened to Ruby. From the… fever incident way, way back to that time during the movie night, you never really… reacted too well to what happened to her. And now with this, I guess I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"You don't have to worry about that, Weiss. We're on a mission, after all." I heard something along the lines of hair being combed with rough hands. Yang's voice wavered. "I'm worried of course, but it's more important to get everyone back first. If anything, we should be worrying about our team leaders down there."

"Well, we're not going to find them for awhile," I sighed as my search turned up nothing. "They're not giving us any signal. Either that or they're still preparing it. It's okay to talk about you now. It's better than being stuck in your thoughts as nothing happens."

"I can't believe I'm hearing that from you." Yang sighed. "Well, if you guys insist." I could make out the sounds of a hand rubbing skin. Maybe Yang's rubbing her face? "How do I say this? … I feel so powerless not knowing what's going on. I kinda understand that something's changed within Ruby, but I don't know how or why. But there were so many weird things that happened since our talk. Like how our room was torched by 'Fire Dust.'" She scoffed. "I know it's a lie, guys. Fire Dust doesn't make drippy marks on the wall. Burn marks from that are always either circular or like a streak. I've never seen runny Fire Dust in my life."

I felt my hair stick out at her reveal. This isn't going to be pretty. "Then there's the Dust explosion that happened in that cafe thing. And everybody should be panicking over the fact that a random building exploded, but I checked the news that day and nothing. Nobody was talking about it. Not even the Huntsmen biker gang that was chasing us. It's like everyone there just kept silent. And what about the time I woke up and found myself tied up and lying on the floor of a practice room without a clue of what happened?" She shook her head. "Nothing's really adding up. Can you guys explain anything that's been going on?"

"… Not really," I replied. "I don't think I can. It's just something that's impossible to understand." Something on the edge of my vision caught my attention. Huh? What's that? "Oh, wait, I think I see something over there." I narrowed my eyes. In the distance, far southwest of us was a small stream of darkness cutting through the dark blue night sky. The moonlight shone through the transparent stream. "Everybody, I think I see smoke over there. It's a really thin wisp, but it might be a signal." I lowered Crescent Rose and handed the weapon back to Yang.

Yang used the scope. "Yeah, that looks like smoke, alright. But that's really far away from Beacon. Do you think it could be everyone? And it's too… wispy. That's not smoke just moving on its own. Something's covering it." Nobody looking for rescue would cover up their smoke. But somebody hiding… Yang might be onto something. We might've found the kidnapper's camp.

"Well, I guess we might've found the kidnappers," Weiss sighed, voicing my thoughts. "But that also means that the team leaders are likely not there. Not when we know that Jaune managed to send a call back before he lost reception. They could be scattered all over the forest as far as we know."

I glanced at the rest of my teammates. "But then again, wouldn't they have their scroll jammers over there? Now that I think about it, we're reaching the center of the Emerald Forest. Having a jammer within their camp wouldn't sound like a bad idea, especially now that they know some of the team leaders managed to get scrolls to call out."

Yang let out a hum. "So if we attack the camp and destroy the jammer… we can get reception back and trace down the team leaders! Great idea, Blake!" She knocked on the door leading to the cockpit. "Hey! Cammy, right? There's smoke to the southeast. Take us over there and prepare for ground fire. We're jumping in and destroying the thing jamming the CCT signal. Might help with making the search easier for us."

"Got it." I heard somebody crack their knuckles. "Normally I would relay this to the Headmaster in order to get his thoughts on this, but we can't exactly talk, can we? And my senses tell me this is something worth checking out. Give me a moment… I can see it. Moving towards the smoke now." My hands wrapped themselves around one of the handles as the Bullhead started banking to the left. The rest of us stayed silent for what felt like a long, long time.

Weiss let out a hum. "Did the kidnappers really make it that far with ten or so people as captives?"

I shrugged. "It's possible. Back when I was… part of the White Fang, we had missions where we would raid worker camps and liberate faunus miners. It made sense to run as far away as possible before making camp. But I don't think the kidnappers are White Fang. It's just… their targets make no sense at all. Cardin might say some racist stuff, but he isn't that important. He's just a student. For the rest of them, it makes even less sense. Kidnapping the team leaders of every first-year Huntsmen team would have all of Remnant declaring war against the White Fang. And while they might be insane, they're not that stupid."

"Right." Weiss sat up. "It can't be Torchwick either. He's been gone for maybe a month now. Plus, why would he change his tactics from stealing Dust to kidnapping Huntsmen? It's way more insane, and nobody wants to spend a ton of lien just to sell Huntsmen. But those are the only two groups that the city has to worry about. If it makes no sense for either group to do this, then who would?"

"We're approaching the location of the smoke," Cammy noted, cutting off any further conversation. "I'll drop you kids off maybe twenty meters from the site then fly around the general area. Give me a call if you destroy the jammer; if you don't, just flash your scroll a couple of times. I'll pick you guys up."

Yang flashed our pilot the thumbs up sign, one the pilot most likely couldn't see. "Thanks, Cammy! Whelp, let's get this done! Banzai!" Before we could say anything, Yang charged and threw herself right out. Weiss and I stared at the falling girl for maybe a second before pushing off and falling right after her.

Unlike last time, where we had to fend off against hundreds of Griffins, our fall remained uninterrupted. Yang burst through the treeline before landing with a thud. I threw Gambol Shroud and wrapped it around a tree branch as I myself fell through. My ribbon grew taut, changing my direction as I slid to a halt on the dirt. To the right of me, a glyph materialized. The heiress landed there a split-second later, slowing her momentum to a halt. Somehow she still managed to look graceful doing it. I yanked my weapon off of the branch.

"Alright!" Yang dusted herself off before striding towards the camp. "Well, we better hurry up if we want to get that jammer!" I nodded, allowing Weiss to get behind Yang before I took the rear. It shouldn't be a long walk from where we landed to where the camp is. Everything should be okay.

Except… something still bothered me. As silent as we tried to make our landing, twenty meters is still pretty close. So wouldn't somebody be awake? Wouldn't they try to investigate the sound? But I can't hear a single Remnan footstep coming towards us. Not one. My neck hair stuck up again. Something's wrong. There's no way there wouldn't be somebody or something moving the moment we landed. Especially when it's at night in a dangerous area. So… what's going on?

Yang broke through the foliage, revealing a campsite. My eyes widened. The whole place was stricken with blood. From the tents to the crates and the chairs, there wasn't a place that didn't have a drop of blood on it. The only exception to this were the insides of several cages at the side of the campgrounds. A decent-sized fireplace fizzled in the center, with the wood stacked up like a square. Only embers remain in said fireplace.

"… Oh." I winced at the sight.

Weiss glanced away, holding back a retching noise. "Oh my gods, that's disgusting! I can't believe this happened to all these people! They just got torn apart by Grimm!"

"Well, there's one thing good about this," Yang noted. "At least we don't have to worry about fighting anyone while we figure out there this jammer is." She stepped forward, gesturing to us. "Come on. I want to get this done as fast as possible."

I nodded, taking a single step before stopping. "Wait a minute…" I glanced at the floor. "Why aren't there any corpses?"

The rest of my team hummed. "Yeah," my partner nodded. "Huh. That's right. Where are the dead body parts?"

We heard a growl escape from the forest, causing all of us to raise our weapons. The sudden sounds of two-legged movement registered in my ears. Maybe four of them? I cocked Gambol Shroud before pointing it at the foliage we came from. "Everyone careful! There's a Creep moving in behind us!"

Just as I expected, a lizard-like monster popped its head through the foliage a moment later. The three of us shivered at the sight of the beast. Its face was drenched in blood. I pray to the gods it wasn't the blood of our friends. The Creep cocked its head at us, eyeing us greedily before letting out a piercing scream.

* * *

"Arslan!" I yelled as I held my stinging right arm. In front of me, Rose swung the affected limb around trying to shake the gooey substance off, but it stayed latched on. There's no easy way to describe the sensation that I felt. On one hand, it burned and had this throbbing feeling, but at the same time, it wasn't so intense. It was more uncomfortable than anything else. At the same time, something just felt… wrong. Like the feeling when there's something sticky on your fingers, but when you check, there's nothing sticky. It weirded me out.

My eyes flickered back to the other girl, who brushed a lock of hair to the side. I let out a sharp hiss. "We can talk this out! There's no need to fight!"

The girl in the sleeping gown crossed her arms. "Oh, really? I wish I could take your word for it, Ruby. But let's be honest: we only knew each other for a couple of hours at most. I have no idea whether or not you're a person that can keep their word. And knowing that you wanted to take the Arrow for yourself, I don't have any confidence that you wouldn't just stab me in the back or something while I'm looking away. Tell me: what were you planning on doing with the Arrow after you've taken it from this Cupid?"

I blinked before scratching my head. What were we going to do with it right after we find it? "… Well, I'll head over to the Headmaster and give him the Arrow. I'm sure that he can keep it safe."

"And what makes you think that he can do that? This is a secret more deadly than the Grimm themselves. There are way too many individuals with evil in their hearts who would want this kind of power. My people have seen it before. We think that the Arrow's safe, only for somebody to come along and abuse their Stand power, nearly destroying the world in the process. It's almost like the Arrow is drawn to ambition, drawn towards individuals who want to change the world, for better or worse. The Headmaster will not be enough to protect the Arrow, I promise you that. And when the Arrow is lost again, my family has to rise up and search again, continuing the cycle."

"Well, what makes your family a better option than the Headmaster?" I shrugged. "You said it yourself about how your family occasionally loses it and that attacks happen even when you guys have the Arrow."

"There's one important difference between people like you and people like me. You were most likely made into a Stand user. The fact that you're looking for the Arrow says that quite clearly. As for me, I was born one." She shoved a thumb at one of the bucklers on her hand. "In the Atlan bloodline, Stand power is apparent the moment we are born. From the day the Arrows were made to now, every Atlan was able to see our Stands."

She stood up taller. "We can keep the Arrow safe for generations without fail. If your Headmaster takes it, the population might be safe for some time. But time marches on, people pass on, and your Headmaster will die. Eventually, someone new will attempt to steal it. Like this symbol, the Atlans are cyclical, everlasting. This is our eternal duty, the ones who will remember the past when the rest of the world forgets. It is our burden, and ours alone. We're the only ones who can keep this Arrow and the world safe until the end of time."

"The end of time, huh?" My mind rushed towards the weird substance that still sat on Rose's arm, still goopy and wet. What could that substance be? Something that's gooey yet hot and sticky? It can't be some kind of acid. I'm pretty sure my hand would be melting if that was the case. But what else? Maybe… glue? No, it's still runny. It would be terrible glue if that was true. What else could it be? Come on, Ruby. Think! There has to be something on Arslan's Stand that might give me a clue of what it can be.

Arslan nodded. "Yes. I feel like I've talked enough, though. I'm wasting enough time already. This Cupid creature might still be within the forest, and I can't take the risk of you interfering with this task. So let's make this quick." Before I could respond,  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** lunged right at me, bucklers gleaming in the moonlight as it soared through the air. In an instant Rose skirted in front of me, swinging a right hook at the red and gold humanoid. Arslan let a small corner of her mouth turn up. **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** spun around, allowing Rose's swing to miss.

The buckler smashed into Rose's forearm, flattening the body part. Pain shot through me as just a moment later, my arm went flat like a doormat. Horror panged in my chest looking at the malformed limb. While my upper arm and my hand were okay, my forearm was squished to a razor-thin edge, maybe a millimeter thick at most. However, there were a couple of bumps on the bottom of my forearm. I looked at it. It had in the shape of crisscrossed diamonds. Just like the symbol on the buckler.

Before I could say anything, my arm snapped at the elbow. I muffled a scream seeing the limb break away from the rest of the body. It just crumbled away! There's something horrifying about my body falling apart when I don't want it to. I stared up at the girl in horror. However, she did nothing, just brushing a lock of her hair to the side. "One arm down," she noted, walking towards me at a leisurely pace.  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** pulled her bucklers back and slapped her hands together. The sticky substance formed a ball within the Stand's hands. "If you keep still, I promise to stop at two arms. No one needs to die today."

"Nope!" Rose and I ducked under the ball of crimson goo, grabbing my arm before glancing around the area. There are a couple of things I have to keep in mind for my next plan. It's not safe to be here in the open with Arslan. If I let the substance get on me and her Stand hits it, I can say goodbye to that body part. At the same time, Nebula and Sun are going to expect us to still be here when they come back. And knowing my terrible sense of direction, everybody's going to get lost at this rate!

But how can I signal to the others that we were here? Maybe I can rip a branch off and scribble 'wait here' on the ground or something like that. No, but it might be kicked away during the chaos.

I rubbed the flat part of my severed arm. It's… kinda waxy like a crayon, now that I think about it. A thought hit me like a lightning bolt. Wait a minute… waxy arm. Wax is used often in candles, and the melted liquid Arslan's Stand through definitely looks opaque, similar to wax. If the goo she's throwing is wax, then—

Before I could finish my thought, **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** brought its bucklers back to the top of her knuckles and continued her rush towards me. Oh gods! I dove to the side, allowing her fist to fly over me and crash into the tree trunk behind me. Apparently, this tree happened to be the one that got hit by the pile of goop earlier. My eyes widened at the sight.

The bark of the tree just caved in without even a crackle. Instead of splintered wood flying all over the area, the buckler just sank into the waxy substance. **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** lifted her fist away, showing off her handiwork. The tree had a perfectly uniform circle forming within the red goo nearly all the way through the trunk. The rest of the tree was unaffected in any way, aside from a couple of falling leaves that were knocked off by the force of the impact. In the center of the stamped circle was Arslan's symbol. Well, that's a decent way to show the others that this is the spot. But how do I figure out how to get back here?

My eyes went towards my severed hand. The part affected by the wax looked way too thin and fragile to use, but the base of the stump was pretty jagged, like it can cut something. I hope it's sharp enough to cut through wood. With a sharp breath, I snapped off the rest of the thin bits, pocketed them, and ran the cut hand across one of the trunks. A light pale brown line cut through the trunk. Bingo! I gave Arslan a big smile, causing her to raise her eyebrows in confusion. A second later I charged through the trees, leaving her in the dust.

"Huh— Hey! Get back here!"

I swallowed as I made my escape. Alright Ruby. Keep moving, move in a zig-zag line. You're less likely going to get hit if you do that. I made a quick line on a tree and ducked left. Red wax splashed onto said tree trunk a second later. Whew. Glad that's not me covered in the goo. Okay, stare straight forward, don't run into trees, Ruby. I just have to keep running and keep marking while I figure out a plan. Another mark was carved into the tree as I rushed into what's probably the deep heart of the forest.

Okay, I think I finally figured out the secret of Arslan's Stand. She can basically flatten things out using wax and a Stand wax stamper. I remember doing wax stamp projects back at Signal when we were practicing letter writing, just in case the CCT ever went down and we needed to communicate with each other.

The idea is that you drip a couple of drops of wax onto a piece of paper, swirl it around to make sure none of the wax clumps together, then you press a wax stamp right on top for a couple seconds, and presto! Sealed envelope. It's kinda weird how Arslan's Stand flattens the object itself along with the wax, but that's how **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** works in a nutshell. Now if I can only figure out how to defeat her…

But do I want to defeat her? I let a hum escape my mouth as I ran deeper and deeper into the forest. Maybe I can just escape from her, show her that I'm willing to step away from the Arrow and just give it to her… Wait. Why didn't I just say that I'll give her the Arrow once we find it? I slapped my face with my decapitated hand. Oh, come on! I could've just said that! I didn't need to lose an arm in the first place! If she understands that everyone's more than okay with just giving her the Arrow once we find it and tell the Headmaster, then there would be no problem in the end! I mean we're just going to hide it, after all!

I glanced behind me. She's starting to be a little far off, but still within sight. Okay, I don't have to beat her up. But maybe she has a one-track mind like Yang. Like how whenever Yang finds something worth paying attention to, she would just go one-hundred percent, not letting up until she's done or she gives up. It's best to calm her down enough to make the offer, or if I can't calm her down, restrain her. But that leads back to the question: how do I stop her with  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES?** **」**

What can I do with my ability… I definitely can try to restrain her. After all, didn't I do that with  **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** with the arm trick? With enough preparation and luck, I can potentially snag her with that. But then again, she's chasing after me right now, and she can still see me. Arslan can probably figure out what I'm trying to do before I get the chance to finish it, so… not good for me.

Now that I think about it, I should see if I can reattach my hand back on. I know I can transform my body into rose petals and reattach body parts easily, but something about the pressed wax feels… different. Makes me think that there's something more to Arslan's ability than I think. Red petals escaped from my pocket and dissolved any traces of wax on my arm. I hope this works. Every single petal converged back to where my forearm should be, merging together bit by bit… My eyes widened in horror. My arm's still flat with wax! Maybe it's a little thicker, but it's still wax at the end of the day.

Why didn't it work? I snapped the hand off and continued making tick marks. Why didn't my arm transform back to normal? I know I can rebuild myself back to exactly how I was. So why didn't it work this time around? What could've changed about me that would cause this to happen?

Does it have to do with the ability of **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES?** **」** Arslan using the wax isn't like any other gunshot or wound that I can take from another person. Maybe it straight up changes how I fit together. I let out a hum. Say my Stand ability used some kind of baseline, some idea of how my body is supposed to go together in order to repair me. Like a blueprint. Arslan doesn't just change my body structure… it also changes the blueprint my Stand relied on. My eyes widened. Oh no… As long as Arslan has control over her Stand, my body can't fix itself properly!

My heart started pounding even faster. Which means that my Stand ability is useless against Arslan! I resisted the urge to bite my nails. Oh man, this isn't good at all. I'm straight up outclassed! Maybe I should've ran the other way, in the direction Sun and Nebula are. At least then I wouldn't have to worry about Arslan literally trying to beat me flat. Well, at least for the moment. Doing that would've bought me enough time to explain the situation to her and make some kind of deal.

But it's too late for that, I guess. I glanced up. How far did I run into the forest? Way too far, probably. I'm gonna have to switch back to my Semblance and run all the way back… wait. An idea just popped into my head. I've always kept my Semblance and my Stand ability separate. I've never tried using both of them together in some way, now that I think about it. It wouldn't be that useful anyway, since I didn't know how to make these two powers work offensively. I glanced at the wax parts of my flattened arm. However… I think there's a way I can make this work. This might buy me enough time to try and talk to her. I just hope she'll forgive me for what I'm about to do.

I stopped and twisted myself around, facing the approaching girl. Arslan kept a straight face in spite of all of the running. She doesn't look tired at all. "So, you've finally decided to stop and fight," the blonde gasped, her voice revealing her exhaustion. "Or did you decide to try and make another deal with me? Because if you did, I'm sorry, because I'm not interested in whatever you have to say." Another goop of melted wax was forming in the hands of Arslan's Stand. "I will not accept any other condition except for total surrender."

My heart fell. No… no! I need a chance to tell her that there's another option on the table! "Arslan, just give me a second to speak! I don't even want the Arrow! We're trying to take it away from the Cupid so that it won't form anymore Stand users—"

"We?" The girl in the sleeping gown raised her eyebrows. "There's more than one of you looking for the Arrow as well." I let out an eep. Did I really word it that way?

She squeezed her neck, glancing down as her other hand rubbed the base of her forehead. "Oh gods, that isn't good. It's a lot more serious than I thought. If it reached the point where a group of Stand users can band together to look for it, then this is a blown out crisis!" She glanced up at me. "All the more reason to deal with you first. All it takes to lose the Arrow is one person who isn't honest. One person, and the Arrow slips out of my family's grasp yet again. I can't let that happen."

"No, you're getting it all wrong! Arslan, it isn't like that at—" Before I could finish my sentence,  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** flung the wax right at me. My eyes widened. Not a moment later, Rose reappeared, slicing a branch full of leaves off from a nearby tree and swinging it to intercept the goo. The wax splattered all over the leaves, turning the light green plants dark red. Not a single drop made it past to hit me. Okay, I really need to get better talking to people. This is going to get me killed at this rate—

The branch shattered into pieces, revealing Arslan's Stand with one fist extended. Wait a minute… is she going to go after me even when her goo missed the mark? I have to act now! Rose disappeared a split-second later, dropping the branch in the process. A groan escaped from  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** as she tried to untangle herself out of the mess. At the same time, a shot of my Semblance sent me flying towards Arslan. " **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " With that my wax forearm flew right off of my hand, transforming into rose petals for a split second before reforming into tiny shards of wax, kinda like grapeshot or buckshot. Or maybe it's more like langrage, considering the shards aren't really that uniform.

Whatever it was, my Semblance carried them across the air at deadly speeds. All Arslan could do was cover her face before several shards ripped through her body. Arms, legs, torso, head. None escaped the shotgun blow that came from my arm. Each tiny piece drilled an ugly hole right through Arslan, reappearing out from the other side. Several streams of blood shot out from each hole; the girl staggered and coughed out blood.

I slid on the ground, stopping my forward momentum. "Arslan! Just listen to me for just a second!" Rose petals floated past the blonde and back towards me as I backed myself against a tree. They overlapped each other one by one until they reformed the waxy forearm. The moment I had it back, I raised both arms above my head. My severed hand flopped onto the ground with a gross squish. "I'm willing to give you the Arrow the moment we take it away from the Cupid! Everybody in my group will agree with me! Nobody in my group wants the Arrow for anything bad! We just want to stop all of the Stand users forming, just like you!"

The girl narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Stay right there and don't ever lower your hands for even a second." I nodded, raising them even higher up. Arslan strutted closer, keeping  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** close behind her with every step she made. What was probably a minute of walking felt like hours with how slow she was moving. Before I knew it, her face was right in front of mine. Olive green eyes bored into mine with the fire of a thousand suns. It took every fiber of self-restraint in my body to not flinch at the intensity in her eyes.

"You know what?" she said after a long, long time. Arslan pulled back, nodding her head to… something. What could this mean? Did she approve of something? "I think you're telling the truth. Your eyes show nothing but honesty. No matter what, I can't sense a hint of a lie. As much as I don't want to admit it, I can say that you're not trying to deceive me. It's a surprising trait to see in people these days, especially in a Stand user."

I sighed in relief, dropping my hands down for a moment. "Thanks Arslan—" Before I could continue my sentence,  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** flew in front of me, slamming her fist into my stomach. A spurt of blood escaped my mouth as I staggered back against the tree. Ugh… what the— did she actually punch me in the gut? Our eyes locked as a small stream of blood dripped out of my mouth. "Arslan…" I whispered right as one knee slammed into the ground. "Why?"

She sighed, regret emerging from her otherwise cold, impassive face. "Because promises are just words. They don't really mean a lot when it all comes down. Situations change, words can change meaning depending on context, intentions change as time goes on and more is learned about the world. You may be sincere right now, but people can be corrupted. People can be changed the moment they get a handle on power. I've heard stories of good men going mad with power. No, I've seen close friends of my family betray us for a chance to take the Arrow. And besides, actions speak louder than words."

Her Stand drifted in front of her, throwing several globs of melted wax over me. A scream escaped my throat. Oh gods, it's so hot! Agh, my skin! It feels like it's peeling! My eyes slammed shut. One of the balls of wax splashed on my face not a moment later. I could see nothing but black with a tint of red.

"You ran instead of holding your ground," Arslan continued. "When that failed, you attacked me instead of showing your resolve in fulfilling your word. Ruby, you talk about surrender and trying to talk things out, but what you did doesn't scream 'surrender' to me. I don't fault you for that. You wouldn't be a Stand user if you didn't have something to drive you. And no rational person would let themselves be hurt. But your actions have spoken for you, and I am not impressed at the least."

Something slammed their fist into my stomach again. This time, it brought me high up into the air before slamming me against the tree trunk behind me. I let out another cough of blood as I felt my stomach compress and flatten out under the buckler for **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES.** **」** Ugh… it's getting hard to breathe. I… have to see what's going on. My eyelids peeled away, revealing Arslan with her arms crossed. Her Stand floated behind her, fists raised up high. I looked down and nearly gagged. Oh my gods… I'm pinned to the tree! My stomach's sticking me to it! What can I still move? My legs wouldn't respond, instead just hanging limply under the wax seal of Arslan's family symbol. My arms still worked fine.

Oh gods, this isn't good. This isn't good at all. I have to get out of here right now! My hands— I mean hand and stump pressed against the tree as I tried to push myself off. Come… on! Why isn't it working? I thought wax seals were supposed to be fragile! Is it because there just happens to be way more wax than there normally would be? Or is it because of her Stand ability? Either way, the seal is refusing to let me out!

"Your ability is definitely something I have to worry about," the girl in the robe noted, placing a hand under her chin. "You're able to turn any part of your body into rose petals and separate body parts. Not the most dangerous ability, but a very persistent one. I have to pin a lot more of you than necessary. But considering your entire body is more or less covered in wax, this should not take long even if you escape. Here's some advice: if you don't want to die, don't move. The last thing I want to hit is your head or your heart. And don't worry. I'll release you from this once I get the Arrow back."

"You're not going to take it from the Cupid easily, you know." Arslan raised an eyebrow hearing my words. I continued, "Not with guns, not with mechashift weaponry, not with Stands. I've tried everything I can, and my group hasn't taken it down yet. You're going to need all of the help you can get to take the Arrow back. Please don't do this, Arslan."

"I think you already know what I would say about that." A sigh escaped my mouth. Yeah, I do. She's not going to change her mind.  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** flew towards me right as rose petals formed where my body met the stamped wax. My body flopped forwards, dropping right under the blow. Only the tip of the buckler nicked me. Thankfully it didn't cause my body to flatten out. I twisted my body in the air so that I faced upwards. It never gets easier, does it?

Rose materialized right in front of me, zooming towards Arslan and her Stand at breakneck speeds. Olive green eyes widened in surprise as she attempted to bring her Stand back, but Rose already buried her fist into  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES.** **」** A mist of blood escaped out of Arslan's mouth in turn, scattering all over the forest floor.

This is my chance! I bit off a bit of my pinky on the hand still attached to me, spat it out, and threw it as high into the canopy of the trees as hard as I possibly could. My vision disappeared a second later, my body now a giant cloud of rose petals. I could see nothing but a rough outline of the forest, Arslan keeling over in pain, and my still flying pinky. I know where I'm going.

I felt each individual piece of me zoom towards the flying finger, reattaching and reforming bit by bit until color returned to my eyes. My hand wrapped around a branch just a moment later and I pulled myself up. That should buy me enough time to think about what I need to do next.

I resisted bringing my nails to my mouth. This isn't good. Not one bit. Now I know for a fact that Arslan has no interest in wanting to be part of the group. Not only that, but she's also more than willing to fight against Jaune, Blake, Weiss, and I in looking for the Arrow. It just doesn't make any sense! I rubbed the base of my nose. How can she be so stubborn about this? We have to work together to stop the Cupid from causing any more harm! We even agree on this fact! … Granted, I think Arslan meant more that she didn't want her family to continue suffering, but I said how I was more than willing to make a deal with her! Why didn't she trust me?

A sigh escaped my mouth. But I should spend less time thinking about that. What's most important is that I have to un-wax the rest of my body. But how am I going to do that? My ability doesn't really help with that, and all I have offensive-wise is Rose. But from the looks of it,  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** might outmatch Rose in sheer power. So an offensive strategy is out. I want to try and be sneaky about it, knocking her out by using the entire environment to my advantage, but she must be really experienced with fighting Stand users. Or at least with what kinds of Stand users she could come up against. And she already understands my ability, so how long do I have until she thinks her way around it?

Argh! What can I do? Come on, there has to be something I can try! Like, maybe restraining her using my arm or something. But then her Stand will just attack me. Maybe I can use my legs! They're still hanging around! … Then again, she'll notice something is up the moment my legs start dissolving into rose petals. Man, there isn't really a good way to win— my arm! That's it!

I ripped my flattened arm out from its socket. Wait, I know what I did back when I was fighting Belfry Falls. My arm morphed along the muzzle, so it's possible to change my arm beyond what is humanly possible. What if I can— The forearm shrank in diameter as my biceps and triceps increased in mass. I then folded the forearm in, thickening it enough to be handled properly. Perfect! I have just what I need! I glanced down below. If I drop into her with a spin like how I normally use Crescent Rose, then I should be able to smash my arm into her face, knocking her out cold! And with that, the Stand's effects will go away!

But that also means I have to know where Arslan is right now. Maybe I should drop an eye down to see where she— The tree shook, causing me to gasp as I started toppling to the side. Well, I guess she's under me then. I swung myself forwards, throwing myself off of the branch I was on and went careening down through the mass of twigs and leaves.

A yell escaped my lips as I burst through the canopy, revealing both Arslan and her Stand standing maybe a meter away from where I'm falling. They both looked up at the sound of my screaming. Her mouth opened in shock of my falling body. It's time to end this! I brought myself to a spin, becoming a whirlwind of rose petals twirling towards the robed girl. A solid smack registered in my ears, followed by a grunt. I faceplanted on the ground just a second later, filling my mouth with the forest floor. Ugh… grass… taste bad. I spat out the dirt and grass. Did I do it? Is she unconscious?

My eyes glanced up before a groan of terror escaped my mouth. Arslan was still upright! Yeah, she might be dazed, but I failed to knock her out! She shot me a dirty look as her Stand drifted in front of her. Oh gods no! I threw my arm at her, only to see her knock it aside. The rest of my body started to roll when **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** soared in, slamming her fist into my left shoulder and flattening it. Tears ran down my face. I have to… get away. I ripped away my other arm and continued rolling.

"This… ends here." Arslan walked over to me and placed a foot on my stomach, stopping me from rolling away. "You've… wasted enough… what was I going to say? Right. You've wasted enough of my… my time." What in the world? I looked into her dilated and uneven pupils. That's the concussion! Something did happen after all! She's not paying enough attention to her surroundings! "You've held me… me up for far too long."

" _Ruby…_ " I glanced at where the voice was coming from. Rose held my severed hand. The fingers are merging together and flattening into an almost knife-like shape. I can do that? " _What do you want me to do?_ " I need her to knock out Arslan. Just one perfect sneak attack, while Arslan is still dazed by the concussion. My Stand nodded the moment I tugged at my soul, drifting towards the two of us in question.

"And now… Now it's time to finish you off." I blinked. Wait, what? She's going to kill me? No! Oh gods no! There's no way she would—  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** threw a punch straight at my head.

"Rose!" My Stand responded immediately, flinging my hand knife up in a lazy arc towards Arslan before dashing straight towards the girl. She tilted her head as she looked back. The robed girl let out a gasp, bringing her Stand around and throwing a million punches. Rose in turn unleashed a torrent of fists right back at Arslan's Stand. We both watched in awe as the two humanoid females fought at supersonic speeds. Wind blew through her hair from the impact of two fists banging against each other. Both Stands were nothing but blurs to my eyes.

Two things happened right after that. One:  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** managed to dodge into one of Rose's fist, slamming the buckler right into Rose's chest. A geyser of blood shot out from my mouth onto Arslan's sleepwear. Two: the knife hand came back down, piercing through the side of her neck with ease. This time a fountain of blood shot all over me as Arslan fell to the side. I could make out a soft thump close to where my feet would be if they were still attached.

**「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** faded away. My shoulder started inflating back to its normal size just a moment later. Oh my gods. Did I? I recalled the rest of my body to me. A cloud of rose petals dived towards every cut and stump I had, rebuilding everything. I raised my reattached hands. A relieved chuckle escaped from my mouth as it took on a grin. I did it! I'm going to be okay! Now all I have to do is wait for Arslan to heal before dragging her back to the meeting spot—

A crackling noise caught my attention, causing my smile to drop. Wait a minute… what the—? I turned towards Arslan's body right as her Aura broke. Platinum sparks of lightning flickered over her body before disappearing completely. And with that, the blood just kept coming. And coming. The area around me became a lot colder. Holy—

"No!" I yelled as I stumbled towards Arslan. I didn't think this would happen. I didn't want this to— No! She's not going to die! My knees slammed into the ground right next to her, staining my pajama pants red.

But I didn't care. What's more important right now is that— I pressed my hands against the holes in her neck and leaned her head to the side. Despite the pressure, the disgusting red liquid kept pouring out from under my hands. Oh gods, how deep did my hand sink into her neck? How long does she have until blood loss kills her? I need to get her bandages right now! But if I let go for a moment, she might lose too much blood! My gods, she's growing so pale…

I felt my stomach twist into a giant knot. "Oh gods, Arslan I'm so sorry," I whispered. There was nothing I could do to stop the tears flowing down my face. "It's all my fault. I should've just listened to you first before running into the forest. I shouldn't have let Rose form that knife out of my hand. But because I didn't listen— Because I wasn't thinking—" I sniffled.

Something… something else started building within my eyes. "You're going to die, and it's my fault. I'm a murderer. Please forgive me. Please don't die. Please don't—" I couldn't take it anymore, closing my eyes before letting out a quiet sob for the person in my hands. She doesn't deserve this.

Something changed within me, like a new door was opened. The energy within my head felt like it was going to burst! My eyes shot open. Streams of energy cackled within my vision. Panic shot through my chest. What the— What is this? How is this—? Wait! Ruby, calm down. Take a deep breath. You have to think clearly!

One long breath in, one long breath out. Almost immediately this new energy left my eyes and flowed down into the rest of my body. I shivered. It felt like electricity was coursing through my veins! It helped that actual silver lightning arcs were actually traveling down my body and into my limbs. I stared in amazement as the arcs flowed into Arslan's neck wound.

To my surprise, the blood bubbled and frothed for a moment, lightning dancing on its surface. Then it started flowing back into her neck.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = January 19, 2018**

* * *

**Gwen's Bizarre Adventure - Act 4**

How am I going to get over this? That is the question that rang in my mind over and over again as I stared at the sharp slope above me. What am I going to do in order to get up to the windows? My arms felt like jelly at this point, only hanging on due to my powers, and I still need to get up there. I winced. What am I going to do?

Well, I can try something desperate, that's for sure.  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** appeared behind me, snatching the last pulley before shooting up towards the office area and slamming it onto the part of the building below it. It stuck tight to the side. She soon went down, grabbed some of the cables around me and went up and slipped in on. I wrapped my end of the cable to my arm and stuck it on tight. I only got one chance to get this right. If I miss, I'm going to be a bloody mist on the ground. My Mystique took the weighted bag off of her.

She stuck it to the rope right as I released my grip on the wall. It felt odd, floating in the air for a moment while gravity wrapped its fingers around me. But before that law of nature could pull me down, I felt my body get yanked out of its grasp. I winced as I felt my shoulder pop, sending a wave of pain through my arm. Agh! I bit down on my lip. Not a single word can leave my mouth. I'm so close to my goal, there's no way I'm going to let myself be caught!

I stuck myself to the side of the cabin right I reached the top, stopping the rope. Before my arm could be ripped away from my body,  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** removed the bag. I let out a small sigh of relief. Whew, I can't believe that worked. I was expecting that to go all so wrong. But ow… I'm in no position to reset my dislocated shoulder. I just have to bear the pain until everything has been set up. Man… I struggled to hold the tears back. It hurts so much though!

But if there's one thing I can be glad about, it's that at least I'm now in range for my Mystique to set up everything. Now I just have to make sure that nobody's in the office. I pulled my head up to the window. Oh gods! I snapped myself back down. The Headmaster's still in there! Wait… why is he in there? Is he on a call or whatever? I can't take any risks.  **「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** peered into the window. Oh geez. Double vision. I closed my eyes to focus.

From the looks of it, he's staring at a photo. I can't really tell what or who is in it, though. He's also talking to himself, judging by how his mouth moves. There's something different about his face, how it looked more troubled than he usually does. I let minutes tick by. He's really focused on that image, huh. Wait… maybe I can try seeing what's in the photo by moving my Mystique closer. It shouldn't catch his attention.

**「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** weaved around to peer behind him. Hmm… that's interesting. On the picture was something strange. It was kinda like a family photo of such. Four people were in frame. There was a man in his mid-twenties with gray hair in a rather stylish outfit. To the left of that man was a blonde haired kid wearing a knight's outfit. He looks as old as a fourth year Huntsmen-in-Training. To the right of the gray-haired man was a brunette woman with her hair in a bun. Everyone was in a dumb flamboyant pose, something campy like in Mistralian anime.

Behind all of them was a ridiculously buff man. Like, wow. I thought that Cardin guy was a buff dude, but this man made him look like a scrawny baby. The spiky brown-haired man was ripped. His biceps looked like they could lift up a rock without any effort. And his chest— I wouldn't mind resting my face on that. This guy towered over the rest of the group. He's like a giant! But at the same time, there was a sheen in his silver eyes that showed a more gentle side. And despite looking the same age as the rest of the group, this person has a less flamboyant pose, making him come off as more mature and older than he looks.

I raised an eyebrow. Who are these guys? Are they part of the Headmaster's old Huntsmen team? It's weird that he would stare at a picture of them if that's the case. Wouldn't he just call them? Unless— Oh. Oh my gods. Something must've happened to them. No way! I shook my head. It wouldn't be like that! I hope. They're probably busy with life and all that. Yep! No way this has ominous implications. Nope.

Wait a minute. He's asleep. I blinked. I can't believe I didn't notice him plop his head down and fall asleep. At the same time, that means I can finally go on with my plan. I opened my eyes and let the cable on my arm fall off. " **「** **LADY MARMALADE,** **」** get the final pulley up and string the rope." While my Mystique did that, I thought about what I just saw. I just violated the privacy of Beacon's Headmaster, did I? … I did. Oh my gods, I feel so bad for doing that! I want to apologize for that, but then again, I would have to reveal that I broke in. A sigh escaped my mouth. In all seriousness, is this what it's like to be a Huntsmen? To keep moving forward despite all of the loss? Is this a career worth all the sacrifices?

**「** **LADY MARMALADE** **」** appeared in front of me a moment later, holding the cable. Is it done? I glanced up. She did just as I asked. "Thanks," I said as I took it with my unhurt arm. My body's already flopping over as I wrapped it loosely around my waist and arm. "I had enough of today. Let's get back home."

The rest of the journey was fairly anticlimactic. It should've felt a lot more cooler. After all, I was rappelling down the tower. But with the pain of a dislocated shoulder combined with what I learned about the Headmaster, I don't really feel the adrenaline anymore. It took a lot out of me, and now instead of feeling awesome, I just feel exhausted. I just want to get this done, fix up my shoulder, and go home.

Everything from there was a blur. I finished my descent down, rigging the pulley system in the process. From there I reset my shoulder, which was pretty painful. After that, it was just slowly cranking up the car until it hung right next to the Headmaster's office. I gave the best grin that I could. That should be a surprise to wake up to. I'll figure out something in the morning.

And with that task done, I turned around and walked back to the dorms where I can embrace sleep.

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song References: Arslan Atlan's「THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES」was inspired by the band DragonForce's Through the Fire and Flames. It's a metal song originally released back in 2005. I personally like the name of the song itself. After all, "Through the fire and the flames" is a phrase associated with determination, which combined with a sense of familial duty is how I view Arslan. The lyrics support that in a sense, with lyrics that describe an army riding into hell (metaphorical or physical I can't tell) regardless of what might happen to them. That kind of mindset really fits with Arslan and the Atlan family in general, and that's really all to say about it.


	28. Rainbow in the Dark

There's no easy way to describe anything that's happening right now. I watched in amazement as the blood covering Arslan's neck flowed right back into her stab wound. Oh my gods— how is this possible? I raised my still sparking hands. Not a single drop of blood remained on them or my clothes. It doesn't make sense! My Stand ability can't do anything like this! Or could it? I shook my head. If whatever I'm doing is keeping her alive… I'll take it, Stand ability or not!

I shrugged off my cape and started binding it around her neck like a tight scarf. This should keep the blood within her for awhile, at least until we manage to get back to the Bullheads and get Arslan some actual help. Alright, I got this. I tightened the piece of cloth with one final snap. That should be enough pressure to stop the blood flow. I hope it doesn't choke her. With that, I slung the girl over my shoulders. Whew boy! She's pretty hard to carry… But not too bad. I adjusted myself. Now, where are those markings from before… there! A series of small nicks and cuts on several trees formed a dotted line back to the clearing. At least I hope that's the case.

With a grunt, I started back towards the clearing with the girl over my shoulders. My leg muscles burned not even a couple of steps later. Sweat slid down my face. My legs wobbled with the weight of one girl's life literally on my shoulders. Oh man, this isn't good. I might collapse again. First when carrying Penny a few months ago, and now? It might be a good idea after all to put in some more effort during weight training. No! I took a long, sharp breath. We're not going to die now! Keep going, Ruby!

That static feeling sparked through my body yet again quickly, stretching down to my legs before fading away. All of a sudden, the burning sensation in my legs just… stopped. I blinked. What? I feel better. No, even stronger than before! It's like the exhaustion I felt from the fight disappeared completely! Just what is this thing, this power that's helping me right now?

I shook my head. Focus on what's most important, Ruby. I can think about what's going on when Arslan's safe. Just focus on finding a place that can give her medical attention for her wounds. Let's see… My eyes flickered up the hill. Next mark is right here. From the looks of it, Arslan and I have been running downhill for awhile. Thank gods I thought of making marks even while I was running. That makes it a bit easier for me to not get lost, I have to admit.

A wet cough escaped from the person behind me as she spat a bit of the iron-scented liquid over my shoulder. Arslan must be coming to her senses now. Should I lay her down for a moment? I don't think that her limbs are broken. However, she's in no condition to fight or escape. That I know for sure. Well… maybe I can give her a bit more time to recover. It wouldn't hurt.

But at the same time, her being aware means that she can summon her Stand. Maybe her body can't fight or run, but that doesn't matter with a Stand. Is it worth the risk? I wonder what's the right choice. I furrowed my eyebrows. Wait a minute. She's on my shoulder right now. Why don't I just ask her?

"Hey," I whispered as I gave her a gentle shake. Arslan groaned in response. I cleared my throat. "Um, are you okay back there? We can stop for a moment if you want."

She let out another wet cough before nodding. "Give me… a moment… to stop my bleeding… Ow, my head. It's really hard… really hard to focus."

"Will you promise not to attack me while you patch yourself up?"

The girl nodded. "Yes… I swear it… on the Altan family name." With that, I brought her to the nearest tree I could find and seated her against its trunk. Arslan grabbed the red fabric around her neck and started unwrapping it. At the same time, she rubbed her forehead. "Ow… I think I can focus again, but I could use an aspirin and some sleep." She pressed my prized possession into my hands. "Take your cape back. If I get this done right, I… I won't have to worry about reopening my wound."

Arslan cracked her hands before careening her neck to the side. " **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES,** **」"** she whispered. That familiar red and yellow Stand appeared in front of her. The same Stand I fought and risked my life against. The female Stand didn't spare me a glance, instead focusing on forming a gooey glob of red wax in the palm of her hand. I watched partly in awe, partly in wariness as Arslan's Stand spent a long time rubbing the wax over her master's stab wound. So far she hasn't tried to make a move. Maybe she is keeping her promise after all.

Not even a second after I thought that, the bucklers slammed into place along the fists of  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES,** **」** causing me to flinch. However, the Stand didn't turn around. It instead pressed gently against the waxed section of her user's neck. And like that, the wax flattened out. It didn't flatten her neck entirely. Maybe half a centimeter was lost at most. Maybe even less.

A sigh escaped Arslan's mouth as a hand slid down the wound mark. It's completely filled in. "Alright. This will keep the blood in me until my Aura kicks back in." She leaned back, calling off her Stand as she stared at me in the eyes. Maybe a minute passed where we didn't say anything. We just stared at each other. I shifted nervously. Should I say something to keep us going? That would be the best solution right now. We still have a lot of ground to cover, after all. But it's going to be really awkward trying to start a conversation with the person I nearly killed, so what's the best choice? What if I make her angry or something trying to say something—

"Why did you keep me alive?" That caught me off ground.

I gave her a couple of blinks. "... What? I'm not really following."

Another sigh as the blonde girl's gaze flickered to a random tree. "As I was patching myself up, I was thinking to myself, about— about everything that's happened. The moment I saw that… that hand knife approaching me, I thought I failed for sure. A minor mistake like that claimed a lot of my family members. One small error made so close to victory ended their life, just like that. As I laid there bleeding, I thought about how I failed my family duty of protecting the Arrow, how I failed my parents by going after it against their wishes. I've accomplished nothing fighting you, and I deserved death as a result. But I'm still here right now. Why did you try to save me?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Um… I guess I didn't want you to die."

"What? That's it?" Arslan sat up. "You just… decided to help me? Even after what I said about my view? Even after I tried to kill you myself? You just decide to show me mercy?"

"Yup." I plopped down on the floor right next to her. "Well… how do I explain this? You're a good person, doing a great thing. Hunting after the Arrow for the sake of your family… how can I hurt a person doing their best to protect the people they love? You're trying to do the same thing that my group is doing. Maybe it's for slightly different reasons, but our goals are the same. And if someone like that is hurt, especially by my own hand, I have to do everything to protect them as well." I shrugged my shoulders. "It's the right thing to do as somebody who has the power of the Stands, as a Remnan."

I started clipping my cape around me again. "My Mom always believed that. Good people have to do everything they can to right the world. I won't stand for any kind of injustice whatsoever. I won't always be right. I'll make a lot of mistakes. Maybe I will fail, and slip up, and end up sharing my Mom's fate. Maybe evil people will take the Arrow when my group finds it, rendering our search useless. But believe me when I say I'll throw my own life away if it means making this world safe from Stands and the Arrow."

Arslan pulled herself up. "I know I said before that words mean nothing to me. Anybody can say whatever they want, but they rarely ever put any weight or intent into their words. They never back it up. And I said before your eyes don't tell a lie. Your choice to save me proved it. And for that, I will be thankful."

She rolled her neck a couple of times before walking up to me. "You really do believe in what you're saying. I have no doubt that you'll make sure that the Arrow will be taken back once and for all. While I can't say the same for your teammates, I can at least be happy knowing you won't let anyone get away. So, I would like to make a deal. A deal between us and only us." The robed girl offered out a hand. "We work together in taking back the Arrow, as comrades and allies. What do you say?"

I smiled, taking her hand almost immediately and giving it a firm shake. "Deal." For the first time since I met her, Arslan gave me a small smile. "So…" I started after we released our hands. "We should find our way back. It would be suspicious if Nebula and Sun came back to find us gone."

"But what about that Cupid monster? Shouldn't we go after it right now while we still know its location?"

"I think it'll be fine. Jaune did say he managed to get a solid hit in, so it can't possibly go that far. Plus, it'll be less suspicious if we had the rest of our team with us instead of just us two. We'll avoid angering anybody else."

"Good point." Arslan turned her head towards the markings and started going downhill. "Let's go."

"Um, Arslan?" I scratched my head. "The meeting spot is uphill."

"It is?" She turned around immediately. "Then uphill we go."

* * *

Most of our walk upwards was uneventful. We mainly walked in silence, following the marks back to where Nebula separated from us. Before we knew it, we were back where we started. Not much of the clearing changed from our fight. Most of the damage caused by Arslan's Stand had disappeared from sight. It was like there was no fight in the first place. A collective sigh escaped from both of our mouths as we collapsed in the middle of the clearing.

"So… When do you think Sun and Nebula will get back here?" I groaned. "I don't think Sun was that far away from us."

"Who knows? We must've chased each other for some time. There's no way they wouldn't have come back by now."

"That's because we just came back." Both of our heads shot up as Sun and Nebula burst through the thicket. The monkey Faunus gave us a cheeky smile as we waved at the both of us. "Sup, everyone? Sorry for making you girls wait. We ran into a pack of Grimm while we were traveling back and had to travel by tree. That wouldn't be much of a problem for me, but as for Nebula—"

"Hey! It's not my fault I don't have your agility!" The girl gave Sun a pout. "I mean all I have to work with is my hands, while you got that tail and— Oop!" She clamped her both shut with both hands. "Was that racist? I mean, I really didn't mean to offend or say anything bad about your… your Faunus trait but I'm sorry if I did and—"

"Whoa! Relax!" Sun waved his hands to stop her. "It's not racist to mention that I have a tail! It's just a fact!" A mischievous grin crawled up his face. "Although it is kinda offensive to try and backtrack on your words by implying that there's something wrong with calling my tail a tail. You know—" Nebula turned deathly pale hearing that. "Geez! I'm joking! Don't be so uptight about my tail!"

Nebula jabbed him in the arm. "Jerk!"

The monkey Faunus winced. "Ooh, that was a nice jab," Sun snarked as he rubbed the aching arm. "Didn't hurt at all. Nope." He gave his arm a couple more rubs. "But let's be serious now. From what I got from Nebula, we have to change our meeting spot?"

I nodded. "One person got wounded, so we're instead converging towards one of the groups." I pulled out the scroll our group found. "Thankfully, we can just navigate our way to them using the CCT, so all we need to do is pull up the map and— Oh gods no."

Sun's eyebrows flew up. "Huh? What's wrong, Ruby?"

My mouth dried up as I saw the flickering map screen. Our location refused to place itself in one set location. "Um… How can I best describe this? The map app is acting… a little wonky."

"What?" Nebula contorted her face in confusion. "The map's looking wonky? But it worked the last time we tried it!" She started towards me. "There's no way there could be a malfunction right now— Oh gods."

"Okay, seriously guys. I know I like to poke fun at things, but this vague guessing game is starting to worry me. Give it to me straight." Sun ran his hand through his hair. "What's wrong with the map app on the scroll?"

"Just our luck," Nebula moaned. "The kidnappers must be jamming our signal. Gwen, that crazy girl, once bought a jammer for a prank. It worked exactly like this." We all let out a collective groan. Really? A jammer? How in the world are we gonna get out of this forest now? I mean, there is the paper map we have— no, that's useless, since we specifically only marked our location and the previous meeting spot. Uh…

Arslan let out a hum. "That doesn't make sense though. These kidnappers kept these scrolls here in an emergency, right? Why would they have a jammer specifically made to mess with their emergency scrolls?"

"Who knows? Everything that's happened tonight has been a total mess. Why wouldn't they have a jammer for some stupid reason?" Nebula rubbed her eyes. "But this situation is absolutely insane. How can anyone find their way back together with all of these random things going on? It's basically impossible at this rate!"

I puckered my lips. "Maybe not… Well, think about it this way. Just like how the kidnappers have more than one scroll hidden in the forest, why would we only have one way to signal to each other?"

Sun nodded, eyes widened as he followed my train of thought. "Yeah, right! No Huntsman would ever have just one method of signaling for help or rescue! Usually, they call for help on the CCT and that would be that. But if they can't, they can use an object that can reflect light as a makeshift signal. If they don't have that—"

I nodded, looking towards the sky. Everyone else looked up with me and gasped. A trail of smoke flowed up through the moonlit night. I finished his words: "Then you light a fire."

* * *

I gritted my teeth as another blast of ice Dust escaped from Myrtenaster. Cold air washed over me as the wave of ice traveled through the burning camp, smacking one of the bounding Creep in the chest. The monster didn't even get to make a single sound before it was completely encased in ice. It won't be long until the low temperatures kill off the monster.

But there wasn't a moment to relax. Several other Creep swerved around or straight up leaped over the ice pillars, baring their teeth as they made a beeline towards me. The deafening roar of a shotgun round rang loud in my ears, which was followed by one of the incoming Grimm flying off to the side. Yang pounced in a second later, engaging with her chosen target. Blake came in just a second later, jumping up and slamming both of her blades into a Creep's back. With a twist of the blade, her Creep swerved right into the rest of the charging pack, knocking them all out.

"Bum— bum— bum. And another one bites the dust," Yang hummed as one final punch decapitated a Creep. She turned around and looked at the pileup of Grimm between us two. "Thanks Blake! I'll take care of these guys!"

"Yang, you're better off making sure there aren't any more Grimm still in the forest!" I flicked the Dust cylinder on my weapon. "I'll take care of this pack!" A flick of the wrist sent a wave of heat soaring through the air, quickly followed by the roaring sound of fire. Unnerving screams pierced through the air as the flames latched upon the fur of the Grimm and ate at them. The smell of smoke and burning oil reached my nose, causing my eyes to water. No, not now Weiss. You can worry about that smell when all of the Grimm are gone.

A groan came out from the blonde brawler. "Aw, come on! There's another pack coming our way! Why do they keep coming?" My frown deepened hearing Yang declare that. Another pack of Creep? There's no way! Did this camp have the misfortune of being built near a Creep nest, or, heavens forbid, on an actual Creep's nest? Did the signal jammer happen to send out a signal that attracts Creep? How is this possible?

I checked the amount of Dust left remaining in each cylinder. All but one ice Dust vial remained filled; my supply of lightning Dust is non-existent. I just burned through the rest of my fire Dust. One vial remaining out of six. I wanted to slap myself. There's no way we could have the terrible luck to just run into a colony of these things! Especially considering Creep prefer to stay away from Remnans. A colony so close to Beacon? How did everyone miss that?

We need a new plan. One that can take care of the Creep while freeing the signal for our scrolls. "Yang! Blake! Stop focusing on killing them! I need you guys to draw their attention for as long as possible!" I jabbed my rapier towards the camp. "We need to destroy the jammer first! I'm running out of Dust; I'll go after the machine!"

If they heard me, they didn't show it. However, they broke off and went their separate ways. Buckshot peppered the Creep on one side while pistol rounds dotted the Creep on the other. Sure enough, the group started diverging, each half moving to surround and kill the annoyances. Now that I don't have to worry about being attacked, I turned and started pushing into the camp.

The scenery got more grisly every step I took into the encampment. What was blood streaks close to the outskirts took on the rough shape of humanoid beings in dreadful positions. Whether it was a fetal position the silhouette of a person crawling away, every blood spot got my stomach to churn. It was impossible to tell who died where, however, the agonizing positions each figure took on painted a fairly clear picture of the agony they must've been through before their untimely deaths.

My eyes lingered a lot longer than they should on a bloody figure with a hand stretched towards the machete sitting right out of their reach. Like the other bloody marks, there wasn't anybody to accompany the stain. Thank the gods for that. A sigh escaped my mouth as I stared at the marking. Poor soul. They don't deserve a fate like that.

I shook my head in frustration. Now's not the time, Weiss. These are the remains of kidnappers and most likely slave drivers. You're here to find the jammer, not feel sorry for the kidnappers who took Ruby! Now, where would a group of kidnappers keep a signal jammer? Let's see… I know I would put it inside, away from the elements. I wouldn't want anybody to find it. So that brings it down to about eight or so tents.

Maybe I should try the radio tent? I looked at the only tent with an antenna sticking out from the top. It would make sense to keep all of the important electronics with each other. But maybe a jammer would be kept within the leader's tent. My eyes flickered to the massive tent with a flag on top. I couldn't make out which group it could belong to, mainly because it was a solid color. A jammer would be important enough that a bandit leader would need to activate it at a moment's notice. It's probably one of those two. The question now becomes which one should I choose?

Wait a minute, Weiss. This has a solution that's simpler than it looks. The communication tent is small. That's where I'll check first. If it's not there, I can move towards the leader's tent with no time wasted. It shouldn't be that pressing of a problem that Yang and Blake's lives would be in danger. I checked their Aura levels just to be sure. Both were still in the green. I have the time.

The communication tent was fairly quiet as I flipped open the flap. The only sound I can make out in the room was the quiet whirring sounds of an old radio trying to pick up a signal. From the looks of it, the equipment on the table were from the Faunus War. Not as analog as the stuff from the Great War, but it's clear that this stuff was designed without the CCT in mind. Not so great with instantaneous information; wonderful for those who don't want to be tracked by any of the Kingdoms. It's no wonder this stuff became so popular with outlaws.

There was a single table filled with more of this kind of tech inside the tent. A sigh escaped my mouth. I could make out the general shape of the radio and the transmitter, but everything else looked completely foreign to me. Maybe one of these things are the jammer? I raised my sword. There's only one way to be sure.

One by one I jabbed each of the electronic boxes, causing them to spark and fray until the lights on the panel faded from all of them. Every time I broke a box, I glanced at the map function to see if anything changed. Each time I had no luck. Before long, I stared at a table filled with broken machinery. Ones that would probably be worth a ton of lien on the black market. But gods… not one of these boxes was the jammer. Which means that the jammer has to be in the other tent. I glanced at my teammates' current Aura level. They should still be at a decent level— My eyes widened. I have to hurry!

I burst through the tent doors, immediately making a beeline towards the command center. This isn't good. Not good at all. I don't know how much time the rest of my team has. Blake is deep in the yellow, and Yang's levels just dipped under green. They must've gotten surrounded or something while I was breaking all of the radio equipment. There's no time to waste! I got a lot of ground to cover and I need every second I could get!

The flaps fluttered as I dove through it. My breath hitched not a moment later. There was an enormous Creep with its mouth open pacing around an enclosed cage near the entrance. There was some more Faunus War-era electronic equipment sitting around the entire tent. On the table, there was some kind of flat disk with a rapidly flashing LED on top. Could that be…? I took out my scroll and opened up the map. Sure enough, the flashing LED more or less coincided with the flickers of the map. I found it! All I have to do is stab the jammer and—

Wait a minute, how did that Creep get in here? Were these guys poachers as well as kidnappers? Well, that is just dandy. They poach Grimm as well? What are they, morons? Don't they know that Grimm will rather kill themselves than be taken captive? This must've been a recent catch. Why would these fools think that capturing a creature of Grimm would somehow end well for them? I shrugged. Not my problem. A quick lunge pierced through the jammer, silencing its interference once and for all.

A chirp from my device sounded out immediately. A quick look showed that everything was all stable again. It worked! I couldn't help but smirk as I dusted my hands. Alright, that's all taken care of. Now all I have to do is get back to my teammates and fight back until we can call for pickup—

A call appeared on my screen from… Yang and Blake? I answered the call. "Perfect timing, you two. I just finished taking down the jammer. Did you guys manage to fight off the Creep? Because I can call our pilot for pickup right about now—"

"Weiss!" Yang's face appeared on my screen with a worried look. "Look, you don't have much time left. You have to get out of there right now. All of a sudden all of the Creep veered away from me and Blake. They're heading into the camp!" I paled. What?

"Same for me," Blake confirmed. "I don't know about you, but I think the Creep aren't here just because they're lured to the negativity. We're chasing the pack of Creep right now, trying to pick off as much as we can, but they're running like their lives are at stake. What could cause them to act like this?"

I swallowed as I thought about what the two of them had said. The entire Creep pack decided to ignore the rest of my team in favor of charging the camp. That doesn't make any sense, though. Grimm are usually attracted to the biggest concentrated mass of people. That's how they get the most negativity for the amount of effort they put in. For the pack to ignore my teammates in favor of charging me means that there's something even more important than getting negativity. It's like how bees would charge in and give up their lives for the sake of their queen.

Everything clicked. My mouth dropped as I turned towards the big Creep on the side. There's no way! Grimm aren't known to reproduce! But the Grimm do act as a hive mind at times… If this Grimm happened to be sentient, it would generally have control over the lesser Creep. And the open mouth… Is it making a high-pitched call to its pack? I thought it was just being weird or something in captivity, but it had one goal all along!

The sound of thunderous stampeding reached my ears. What? They're already here? I flipped the flap of the tent and peered outside. The biggest swarm of Creep stampeded my way, eyes showing nothing but sheer hatred and malice. My eyes widened. Oh gods!

My finger already flicked the trigger of Myrtenaster, forming a wall of ice to reinforce the tent walls and cover the flimsy tent door. Several thuds banged against the frozen barrier just a second later. Feral screeches sounded from the other side, sending chills down my spine.

I'm in a room right now with the queen Creep, and her entire colony is throwing their weight in order to save her! The jammer wasn't to mess with any search and rescue attempt, it was to block the distress signal that the queen was giving off! It wasn't completely effective, considering how many Creep were in the area with the jammer on, but I've just destroyed the only thing that kept me safe for this long! And just when I ran out of Dust as well. This is not good. At all.

Already cracks crackled through the crystalline structure. It wouldn't be long until the ice gives way. How long can this wall hold? Two minutes at most? Okay, I've got two minutes to somehow lay a trap for the rest of the horde and escape unscathed. I wish I could say that this was going to be a simple task.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared, unsheathing its saber before starting to wail against the queen Creep's cage.

Streaks of red and white crystal Dust formed around and on the metal bars of the cage, bit by bit forming a thin layer over the Grimm in question. I glanced back at my ice wall. The entire thing was full of cracks now. It's going to give any moment now. My Stand formed one last patch of red and white Dust right in the center of the room. Done! I slashed a hole through one end of the tent and dove right through. Behind me,  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** created a thin line of red Dust starting from the cage all the way out to the trees. Oh, thank gods that the Creep didn't think about surrounding the tent. That's a lucky break, at least.

I heard the ice shatter behind me. Now! I jabbed the end of the Dust line, setting it ablaze. Heat washed over my face as the Dust went up in smoke. The fire used the trail to crawl towards the command tent at a surprising amount of speed. I kept running, making a beeline for a nearby tree before I threw myself on the ground and covered my ears.

A couple seconds later, I felt myself fly backward. It felt like the air in my lungs caught on fire. Oh gods, it feels like my lungs were being scorched! I could make out a fireball consuming the tent whole. Some of the Creep managed to run through the flames. Despite surviving the explosion, they paid no attention to me; instead, they writhed around, trying in vain to extinguish the tongues of heat licking their skin. I'm sure that none of these monsters will bother me anytime soon.

But ow… Why can't I hear anything but ringing? I winced in pain as I reached for my ear. Blood came away from it. What in the world? Didn't my Aura protect my eardrums the last time I tried this? From the corner of my eye, I saw  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** drift towards me. Why is— Oh wait… A sigh escaped my mouth. I forgot to call back my Stand. Of course. **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** disappeared from my sight. Already the ringing started to dissipate. I mean, that's a lot better than before but ow, my gods. Why do I always get into these kinds of explosions? Maybe I should figure out a way to use  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** that doesn't involve having to set something ablaze.

From the corner of my eye, I could make out two figures running towards me. The tip of Myrtenaster stabbed the ground, and I managed to pull myself up to my feet. Moments later the rest of my teammates caught up with me. Worry washed over both of their faces, although Blake's was a little more subdued. Yang's mouth moved as if she was trying to say something to me, but I couldn't hear anything. Stupid ringing.

"What?" I asked the blonde girl. She tried saying something again. I still couldn't make anything out. A groan escaped my mouth. "Sorry, give me—" I took a sharp breath before coughing. "Give me a moment. My everything— I need some time to recover." The high-pitched ringing faded away, allowing my ears to hear the crackling sounds of something oily being burnt. "Okay, I'm good now. What?"

"Weiss, what in the world happened?" Yang wiped the side of my head. "Blake and I were chasing the Creep pack when we saw them enter the tent. Why would they do something like that?"

"Queen Creep." Watery eyes stared in the direction of the burning tent. "The idiots who set up camp somehow managed to catch a Queen Creep, and they decided that storing it within the tent was a great idea." I saw frowns forming on both of my teammate's faces. "It sent out a distress call to the rest of the pack. The rest of the camp must've been decimated when the Grimm started streaming in to save their Queen. Someone must've turned on the signal jammer while all of the chaos was happening. And that happened to drown out the distress signal or something, because the Creep decided to leave right after."

"And we sent Weiss to destroy the jammer," the blonde groaned. "I can't believe this. Everything's just going wrong tonight! We could've gotten you killed!"

"Yang, calm down. I'm still alive. It was a surprise for sure, but I managed to get out of there with my body intact." I saw the stern look she gave me. "What? I'm not lying. But whew… at least I got lucky this one time. The kidnappers kept explosives on the cage of the Creep. Maybe it was for insurance, should the Queen ever got out or something. But I probably wouldn't have survived the Creep pack if it wasn't for that."

Everybody stayed quiet for a while. I coughed into my hand before pulling out my scroll. "On the bright side, the signal's now free. We can look for the others without any kind of interference whatsoever." I popped open the map application.

Now, where could the rest of our team leaders be? Several flashing dots appeared on the screen, all spread out within the Emerald Forest. I raised my eyebrows in shock. What the— There were roughly thirty or so dots on the screen! Granted, most of them are clustered into rough groups of four, but now we have another issue. Who has what scroll? And why are all of the caller IDs code names? It's a search and rescue, not a black ops mission!

Blake's bow twitched. "Uh… Weiss? What's going on?"

"What have we done to deserve this?" I moaned, showing the screen to both of my teammates. Blake and Yang groaned with me. "This is ridiculous! We're just getting thrown into setback after setback without getting anywhere!" I shook my head. "You know what? We're not going to get anywhere if we're going to keep moping like this. Blake, can you call our pilot to come pick us up?" The faunus girl nodded, pulling out her scroll and starting to make the call.

I looked back at the screen. Alright, calm down, Weiss. There's gotta be something we can work with. Something that could possibly hint at where we can find everybody. Should I call the rest of the teams and tell them to turn off their scrolls for a moment? No, that's going to take too long. I mean, it will work, but there has to be a way that doesn't take nearly as much time. Somebody's injured, after all. I squinted at the screen. There has to be something, anything on this map that can give us a hint of where the leaders are.

Wait a minute… what about these three dots? These three are the only ones that happened to be alone. They don't look like they've splintered from another group or anything, they just happened to be separate. That's a big difference compared to the groups of four. Could that be them? Professor Goodwitch did mention how the leaders were sharing three or so scrolls amongst each other. And huh… two of the dots were making a beeline for the last dot, which is more or less stationary.

Everything clicked at that moment. "I've found them!"

"What?" Yang made her way towards me. "You did? How?"

I pointed at the solo dots. "These dots are moving towards this particular dot. They happen to be moving towards the only stationary dot on the map. Remember how Professor Goodwitch said how one of the students was injured?" The blonde nodded her head. "I think that's them. The rest of the team leaders must've gotten some kind of signal and are trying to reconvene together. Something that doesn't have to rely on technology in any way."

A blast of air interrupted me. A Bullhead soared right above us, sending a blast of wind that whipped against my hair. Our pilot— Cammy was her name, I think? She gave us a quick wave before opening the side doors and letting down some rope. I turned to the rest of my teammates, giving them a quick nod. Within moments we pulled ourselves up and strapped ourselves back into our seats. Our transport started to rise up into the sky again.

"As I was saying," I continued. "They need a way to signal each other without the need for technology, and continuously. We might've gotten the wrong smoke signal, but considering they were already moving, that means there's an actual trail we can follow now." A couple of Bullheads flew past us. "And from the looks of it, the others figured it out as well." I turned my head in the direction the other Bullheads were flying. A thick white smoke trail burned, contrasting greatly with the dark blue night sky. I tapped the side of the Bullhead. "Cammy, we need to fly over to the smokestack in the distance." The Bullhead lurched forwards. The smoke… that's where we'll find everyone else. I'm sure of it.

* * *

I wiped the sweat off of my brow as I backed away from the giant bonfire in front of me. "Whew… I think that should be enough to keep this fire burning. Hopefully making white smoke will help everyone find us." I turned towards the rest of my group. Cinder and Ciel rested a couple meters away from the flames on a fallen tree trunk. The girl in the beret hasn't woken up yet. Cinder, on the other hand, was holding a random leaf. The green leaflet glowed red alongside one of Cinder's tattoos before turning ash gray. "But thanks, Cinder," I continued. "That fire Dust tattoo you have really saved us there! I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't have that!"

"It's fine." The girl let out a long sigh as she rubbed the ashes off of her fingers. "We do have to get Ciel out of here as soon as possible. She's going to be vulnerable for a while, and I don't think Atlas would appreciate it if one of their students died under Vale's care. It could potentially increase tensions between the Kingdoms, after all." A small smile crawled up her face. "It would be terrible if something like that happened."

"Right. That would be pretty bad." I sighed as I plopped myself down next to them. "Somebody has to notice this. We're going to get out of here, get Ciel medical attention for her shock, and hopefully put this all behind us." I let out a sigh. This whole situation was a mess. At this point, I just want to go back home. I want to leave this forest behind. Everything's all wrong.

We all jumped when the foliage nearby rustled. What was that? I ripped up a bunch of grass. "Cinder, get ready. I think the Grimm might be back." I raised my fist towards the sound. Cinder brought her hands up, her index raised and ready to fire a firebolt if needed.

"Whoa!" Flynt gasped the moment he broke through, raising his hands up. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! It's just us!" Moments later Cardin and Branz broke through as well, both looking disheveled but otherwise okay. The leader of Team FNKI let out a sigh of relief as he wiped his brow. "Thank gods. The Grimm were getting antsy back there. Good thing these two really know how to handle themselves in a fight." Flynt let out a soft chuckle. "But as for Ciel…" The boy's smile dropped. "She okay?"

I nodded. "We did as much as we can to make her comfortable. She has time, I'm sure. Hopefully, we'll catch the attention of the Bullheads sooner or later." I looked at the group. "Well, that makes six of us. I wonder where's Ruby's group. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't remember if I asked anyone to get Sun." I rubbed the back of my head. "... Should one of us go and get him?"

"No worries, my blond friend!" I jumped. Who said that? My answer was answered as the monkey faunus in question popped out from the treeline, causing everyone to jerk their heads towards him in surprise. "Sun is right here!"

"What the— How did you get here, Sun?" I yelled. "Did Ruby's group get to you and tell you to meet here?"

He nodded. "Speaking of which—" The monkey faunus turned his head to look behind him. "Here they come right about… now."

Ruby burst through the foliage, followed closely behind by Nebula and Arslan. "Freedom!" she gasped as she tumbled to the ground in front of us. "We made it! Thank gods!" We all stared as Ruby picked herself up and brushed the dust off of her cape. The girl in the cape gave us a quick wave. "Hey everybody! It looks like everybody's here now! So, does anybody know when the Bullheads will come?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can't pick out the rumble of the engines right now, so I think they're some distance away from us." Sun jumped down and landed next to Arslan. "But do we have an estimate of how far off they might be right— Oh wait." The boy cupped his ears and craned his head towards the sky. "I can hear them!"

"Really?" All I could make out were the sounds of crickets chirping and the crackle of the fire. "I don't really hear anything."

Sun's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What? How could you— Oh right. Sorry. It's the Faunus ears." He craned his head towards the air again. "I've never been the best at this, but it sounds like multiple Bullheads are roughly… a minute away?"

Strangely enough, Cardin nodded his head. "No, closer than that. I can hear the engines now." Several low rumbles caught my attention as well. Are they closer than we thought?

Suddenly, several Bullheads flew past us. "There they are!" A smile grew on my face as I waved my hands at them. "Over here!" They came! They actually came!

"Ruby!" I turned my head. Yang hung from one of the side railings of a Bullhead, waving at the girl. "You're okay!" Weiss and Blake sat deeper inside the airship, but both let out cheers at the sight of their team leader.

"Jaune!" Right next to team RWBY's Bullhead was team JNPR's. All three of my teammates leaned out of their seats, letting out laughs of relief at the sight of me. Pyrrha waved at me. "Hello there! Do you have any spots left on your team? We're missing a great team leader." I let a giant grin loose in return. Oh my gods, it's great to see my partner's face again. We can get out of here now! All of us can! We're saved!

For every Bullhead that opened up, each team let out some kind of cheer at the sight of their team leader. And for each Huntsmen team that revealed themselves, their respective team leader let out a sigh of relief. It didn't matter, from the cheery Sun to the serious Branz we all felt genuinely relieved to be rescued.

One of the Bullhead doors opened, revealing a red-haired girl in a neon green dress. "Salutations!" she waved. "I heard that you guys were in need of assistance?"

"Oh my gods, Penny!" Ruby stepped forwards. "Hi! It's been so long!"

"Friend Ruby! It's a surprise to see you here!" Penny grabbed some kind of handle on the Bullhead. "Do you happen to see my team leader Ciel by any chance? I'm supposed to be picking her up."

I stepped forwards. "She's over by the log! We'll bring her to you right now!" I turned towards the others. "Come on! Somebody help me grab Ciel!" And with that, we started preparing ourselves to leave this forest proper.

* * *

It was a surprisingly quiet trip back for me. Besides the regular hugs that I received from the rest of team RWBY when I first got on, none of them really said anything. It's so different from how it was weeks ago, when everybody was worried about me. Yang looked like she wanted to say something more than everyone else, but for some reason she didn't dare say a word. I don't know, I think that's fine. That'll give me time to just think about everything that happened. About the kidnappers.

No matter how much time I put into this, I can't figure out why a bunch of kidnappers would take all of the first-year leaders. I don't see any of the upperclassmen taken away. It all seems so needless. Wouldn't it make sense to kidnap everyone in one room? Why go through all of the effort to sneak into each team's room and take just the team leader? Wouldn't they risk getting caught doing that?

And everything seems so weirdly complex. They have a signal jammer to disrupt scroll signals, yet they still have emergency scrolls lying around. The kidnappers decided to take only first-year team leaders, but they abandon us in a truck and basically disappear from sight. Why leave us in the Emerald Forest, which is within flight distance of Beacon? Nothing's really adding up. There's gotta be something that I'm missing, some kind of detail that could give us a clue to what's going on. But what could it be? I can't figure it out!

"Hey kiddos," our pilot stated over the PA. "We're about to reach Beacon. It's going to be a bit of a rough ride as I try to not create a fiery explosion giving a fellow Bullhead a peck on the cheek. If I were you, I would strap myself in." Cammy let out a snicker. "I'm sure Beacon would prefer to not pay for additional transport ships this year if one of us birdies mess this up, and I would prefer not dying."

"Alright, Cammy." I tugged at my restraints to make sure I'm still locked in. "Bring us down then."

And so my team and I waited for Cammy to ground the Bullhead proper. There were some close calls. I remember Blake hissing when one Bullhead barely missed us by an inch. I never thought landing so many Bullheads at once would feel so claustrophobic.

A couple of tense minutes later, and we were finally on the ground with the rest of the teams. We all milled close to our Bullheads, whispering amongst each other. I learned about the fate of the kidnappers. But still, everything seemed so… coincidental. There's no way that everything could be in place when we needed it.

"Evening students!" Everybody turned their heads to see Professor Port and Professor Goodwitch approaching us. The mustached man brushed a lock of his hair back. "I see that everyone is back here alive, more or less. I'm sure that this was quite the experience."

"What?!" Somebody called from the crowd. "One of our teammates is hurt! How could you call this an experience?"

"Good question," Port said, letting out a soft hum. "While such an injury was unexpected, I can guarantee that none of the students here were in any real danger."

Everything clicked into place almost immediately for me. "Wait… you mean—"

The portly man nodded. "Let me say with great pleasure that despite all of the obstacles placed in your way and the unfortunate circumstance of one of your fellow students, every single one of you did admirably during this year's simulation." Hearing that caused the whole crowd to break into chatter amongst each other. "Let me explain. The focus of this simulation was independence. I'll break down Beacon's thought process in communicating this theme."

"For the teams in general, we wanted to have a scenario that tested what each team would do without their team leader. When you go out on expeditions for Hunts, there will be no guarantee that everybody will survive. That includes your team leader. By having a scenario where the team leader is out of the picture, we can learn how every student would react. And from the recorded audio from each of the Bullheads, I can say for certain that all of you kept your composure, even if emotions did run high at times."

"I'm sorry, but let me see if I understand this correctly." Weiss stepped forward, hands pressed together. "So the kidnappings are part of the simulation. However, my team went into the 'kidnapper's camp,' and we saw the entire place overrun by Creep. Is that part of the simulation as well?"

The portly professor nodded, puffing his chest out. "I take pride in creating that camp. Made it out of nothing but confiscated technology, barrels of pig blood, and the forest itself. But managing to capture a queen Creep and luring the nest in the process — now that is my magnum opus of my exploits. I felt like a young man again in my quest to capture her. Let me tell you, capturing the queen Creep—"

"Peter, focus," Professor Goodwitch hissed.

"Oh, right." Port let out a cough before continuing. "Back on track. As for the team leaders, we gave you no objectives to go for. Everything that you needed to know had to be gleaned from your environment. There will be times when you have to determine for yourselves what your objective will be without a clear-cut answer."

"I wasn't surprised hearing everyone have different ideas on what to do about their situation. After all, before each team leader had to make the call alone, without consulting other leaders. Despite that, you all came to a consensus to escape over going after the 'kidnappers,' even if there was lively discussion on using the scrolls to track down the responsible parties. While I can't say what's the right decision, do know that I myself would make the choice to focus on escaping instead of fighting back, as surprising as it sounds."

"But I've talked long enough. I'll finish off by saying that I believe that everyone here performed admirably." He gestured over to Professor Goodwitch. "Glynda, if you don't mind."

She nodded. "I'll make this brief, since we've kept you up long enough. Every first year will be given the day off to rest up. Spend it however you wish. On Friday you'll review in Professor Port's class what happened during the simulation in greater detail. In my class we'll have a last-minute talk about the Vytal Festival. That'll be all for today. Have a good night's rest students."

With that the crowd started drifting towards the dorms. Yang grinned. "Oh my gods, this is perfect!"

"Huh?" I turned towards my sister. "What do you mean?"

"No classes tomorrow. We have the entire day to ourselves. You know what that means, right?"

"Umm… no," Weiss sighed. "We're not mind readers, Yang. Just spill it out!"

"We can have some quality team bonding in the city before the Achieve Men concert!" Oh wait… oh yeah, that was tomorrow, wasn't it? Blake winced at the announcement, not that her partner noticed. Yang continued: "Guys, it's going to be awesome! We can see all of the decorations for the Vytal Festival, people watch the tourists coming in, do regular stuff in the city. Then we end the day with the Achieve Men concert! Aren't you guys excited for this?"

Blake's bow twitched. "Um… is it fine if I skip out on this concert? I mean I have really… sensitive ears!" Her eyes flickered around, narrowing a bit. "It's just going to hurt my ears going there. Both sets, in fact." Her bow twitched again for emphasis. "So… I don't think I'll enjoy it."

"Oh, don't be such a sourpuss, Blake!" My sister slapped her partner's back. "I can get you some earplugs for the concert. In fact, that's what we'll do in the city today! Buy high-fidelity earplugs for everyone! Seriously, it's a pretty good idea in the first place." She shook her head. "But that won't matter if we don't get some sleep! Come on guys, back home we go!" A moan escaped from Blake as she was dragged back to our room by Yang, with Weiss and I following close behind.

* * *

"Seriously, you don't have to go through all that effort," Blake said as the airbus took off. A nervous chuckle escaped her mouth. "Isn't there some kind of bookstore or something near the theater? I can just go there and listen to the music. I don't need to go to this concert."

I guess Blake's still trying to get out of it. I smiled as I tugged at my cape. The morning sunlight streamed through the windows onto all of team RWBY. It's only nine o'clock in the morning and the cat faunus is still having this debate with Yang.

"Come on, Blakey. Do it for me?" Yang asked. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime! You don't know how much I've always wanted to go to one of their concerts. And now I finally can! This is an experience of a lifetime, Blake! Concerts are expensive stuff, and I'm not letting this opportunity slip away!"

Weiss was sitting between me and the other two girls, looking through her scroll as Yang kept trying to convince Blake. She let out a hum. "I guess there's nothing interesting on the news again— what's this?" She clicked some kind of link and started reading before her eyes widened. "What the— How is this possible?"

"What is?" I leaned over her shoulder. She was reading a news article about— a car being hanged from the Headmaster's Tower? Huh?

_**⇐TO BE CONTINUED= February 2, 2018** _

* * *

**Gwen's Bizarre Adventure - Act 5**

The first thing that caught my attention was somebody shaking my shoulder. I groaned. Who dares disturb my slumber? "Gwen," someone whispered in my ear. "Wake up." I glanced up to see a plume of blue hair staring back at me.

"Go jump in an Ursa nest, Neb," I growled. "I'm 'sick,' remember? I need my bed rest. I mean, it's like—" I glanced at the clock above our door. "Nine-ten. Give me five more minutes."

"More like five more hours. Come on, Gwen. We all know you're lying. I came up with the 'sick' excuse myself, remember?" I growled again in response. It's Nebula, it's always Nebula. Of course, it's my team leader. How could she be up this early, especially after everything that's happened? She got kidnapped for the simulation, and she doesn't sound exhausted. Honestly, I'm quite jealous. Morning people, how do they do it? She continued: "Seriously, get up. You gotta check the news feed at Beacon."

I groaned as I sat up. My hair's a complete mess. I must look like I've just walked through hell. And to be fair, I did just climb through it. And my muscles are so achy, so tense. I gave my team leader a bloodshot glance before holding my hand out. "Scroll out. Now. I'm not in the mood."

She gave me a smirk, offering her scroll to me. "I think you'll be changing your tone after you see this." I snatched the device. My eyes widened at what's displayed. The exhaustion disappeared from my mind as I let out a chuckle. ' _Jeep Swinging From Headmaster's Tower!'_ the headline read. Right under it is a beautiful picture of the vehicle from inside the Headmaster's office. Wow, did this really make it to the top of the headlines? I puffed my chest a bit. Feels good to get acknowledged.

"And the betting pool? Did we 'leak' who did this?"

Nebula nodded. "Dew sent a mass message to everyone about what happened." She shook her head. "This is absolutely insane. I can't believe it worked."

"Yes!" I pumped my fist. "We've just made a ton of bank!" A groan escaped my mouth as I rubbed my sore muscles. "But oh man, I really could've used the rest of Team NDGO. You can't believe how hard it was scaling a tower like that with nothing but my Semblance."

"I can imagine. Sorry about not being there to help you, but being kidnapped really makes it hard to help out a fellow teammate. You know how it is."

"That's true." I gave my hair a rough brush. "Where's everybody else? Did they already leave?"

"We're right here," Dew responded from right under me. I looked over my bed and saw Dew and Octavia sitting on the bunk opposite of me. "Hey, great job with pulling that off by the way. If it wasn't for the simulation, I would be surprised that you didn't get caught by security watching for curfew breakers."

"Yeah. It's kinda weird how I didn't get caught by any Atlesian guards." I narrowed my eyes. Wait, now that I think about it, there weren't any guards at all. That's weird. If I remember correctly, the bottom half of the tower is made specifically for the CCT. Wasn't there a bit of trouble back during the dance where somebody attacked the CCT? It's strange how on the day of a simulation there aren't any guards watching the building for another attacker. But why?

Octavia spoke up. "Hey guys, just want to let you know that May said they just got the lien. We're going to wait and sit on the money for a couple of days, then we'll split it before the Vytal Festival begins."

"Nice," Nebula grinned. "Text them our thanks. We'll buy them lunch or something when we get back to Shade."

"Whoa, hold up." I raised my hand up. "Can we go to that restaurant with the awesome kebabs and that special grilled cheese once we get back? The one made out of goat and sheep milk? Man, they have the best food."

Dew tapped the side of her cheek. "You mean grilled halloumi? Wait, I think I remember the restaurant name…" She snapped her fingers. "Smokey Pan's?"

"Yeah, that's the one." I let out a giggle. "Oh man, I love that place! What I wouldn't do to have Smokey Pan's."

Nebula gave me a smirk. "Isn't that a family diner? Honestly, I expected something fancier. I mean, it does feel like we've committed the perfect heist. Why not have the perfect meal to celebrate?" She shrugged. "But then again, Gwen basically did all of the hard lifting, so I'm cool with that choice."

"Yes!" I pumped my fist. "How can this day get any better?"

We all jumped a moment later when somebody knocked on the door. What the— who could it be? I leaped out of bed. Strange that somebody would knock on the door this early in the morning. I felt my stomach shrink back in fear. Did we get caught? I thought it was weird that nobody really tried to interfere. Did Professor Goodwitch come to put us in our place?

I pulled open the door to see a bottle of apple cider and a note sitting on the floor. What in the world? I pulled them in and slammed the door.

"Hey Gwen, what's in your—" Nebula narrowed her eyes. "Apple cider? Who in the world would give us that?" I ignored her, handing the bottle to Octavia before lifting up the note.

_To Team NDGO,_

_I would like to say congratulations for managing to perform such a feat. While doing so breaks Beacon rules, I am impressed with the skill it must've taken to pull such a feat off. Figuring out how to acquire equipment, technical prowess with your skills, timing the operation to take advantage of another event going on: all of those skills show a lot of dedication and planning. The apple cider provided is to acknowledge the work NDGO put into this stunt, which is comparable to how Huntsmen work in the field._

_However, at the end of the day, NDGO is a student team under the care of Beacon, and Beacon is a prestigious academy. It will not portray either Shade or Beacon in a good light to have something like this go unpunished. While this will not affect NDGO's opportunity to perform during the Vytal Festival, the punishment will address the discipline issues at hand. I do request NDGO to stay out of any trouble from now on._

_Sincerely,_

_Headmaster Ozpin_

"Wait," I said after reading through this. "So the Headmaster knows what happened, and he gave us a bottle of apple cider for it? And also—"

Somebody knocked on the door again. "This is Professor Goodwitch." a strict voice stated from the other side. "I'm here to have a talk with all you girls." I paled. This is not going to be fun.

**=GWEN BA END=**


	29. Dress Down

It was a beautiful Thursday morning when team RWBY dragged a pouting Blake into the convenience store. I adjusted the cloak on my back, letting my sister drag her partner around. My eyes glanced through the weapon magazines on a nearby rack. Ooh, I wonder if there are any new issues— aaaand nope. I've already read through all of these issues. Although there is this tabloid for the Vytal Festival next week, and they probably have some event-exclusive items specifically for this time of year...

… Nah. Now that I think about it, I don't even like limited edition designs. I sighed. Oh well. I'll just wait until the actual festival comes around. I mean, there's always that magazine issue I was looking through yesterday. There's still a lot of stuff that I want to check out in there. Let's finish that before worrying about new things.

Weiss walked up to me, and we both smirked as we walked behind the other two members of our team. I swore Blake let out a hiss as my sister kept dragging her down the aisles. "Yang, please don't make me go to a concert," the faunus girl moaned.

"What's wrong with that, Blake?" Yang kept an iron grip on her partner's wrist. "I mean they're free tickets! You know it costs roughly two hundred lien to just get into a concert these days. Good seats go up for even higher. I heard floor seats, which are one of the best seats for an average person, costs double that, maybe even more. And we won floor seats, free of charge! Why wouldn't you want to go?"

Blake let out a whine, her eyes darting around the room for some kind of help. "Well… I've never listened to these guys."

"I was playing Achieve Men songs all night yesterday."

The faunus girl bit her lip. "… I don't like them as a band?"

"Doesn't really matter to me, although ouch." Yang let out an exaggerated gasp, pressing her hand against her chest. "In all honesty, Blake, it's more about the concert experience more than anything else. You can mock it all you want, but really all I want to do is enjoy the experience of being at a live concert. Just friends hanging out together, listening to an acclaimed band." Yang let out a sigh. "Come on, Blake. Even if you don't want to go to the concert, can you at least tolerate it for the team's sake?"

That caused Blake to shrink away as her amber eyes flickered towards me and Weiss. She sighed. "… If you insist," Blake sighed, giving up any attempt at resistance. We reached the part of the convenience store where they kept all of the earplugs. "But I'll order noise-canceling earplugs instead of the… the other kind."

"High-fidelity?" My sister shrugged. "Alright then. You can enjoy a book or something while everybody is enjoying the concert. Hopefully, the flashing lights won't distract you too much." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I mean, I'm sure we're going to get dirty looks, but at least you'll be with us! And that's all that matters!" She looked at the rack and picked out a pair of yellow-colored earplugs. "Now this looks nice. Cheap, too. Ten lien is pretty good."

Yang turned towards Weiss and me. "Yeah, I should tell you what's what. So you see the earplugs I have in my hands?" We did. The earplugs in question had a clear plastic tubing skewering three buds of different sizes together. It looked really sleek. "These are high-fidelity earplugs. I don't quite understand how it works, but I have a friend who's an audiophile and he says these types of earplugs have 'flat attenuation.' Basically it's supposed to reduce sound equally across frequencies. So the actual sound is quieter, but quality isn't sacrificed."

She turned around and grabbed another pack. "These are noise canceling earplugs." These ones were a lot simpler, looking more like two black pieces of foam in a rough shape of a bullet. "They do a good job with blocking sound, but it also muffles the sound so it isn't really that good for concerts. Then again, I don't think it matters to you anyway, Blake." My sister tossed two packets at her partner before looking at me and Weiss. "So, that's the basics on earplugs. I'll pay for all of them out of my own pocket, so go ahead."

We nodded. I chose a pair of red earplugs with a little cute dog at the end of the nub. It was so adorable, I had to get it! Weiss, on the other hand, went with a pair of transparent buds.

As we waited in line for our purchase, VNN News came on the television hanging on the wall behind the counter. A familiar anchorwoman appeared behind the desk. "Good afternoon, Vale," the woman spoke as she sorted out her papers. She brushed a lock of her thistle-colored hair back. "My name is Lisa Lavender, bringing all of Vale timely updates to everything happening in the city."

She adjusted her collar. "In recent news, citizens have been voicing their concerns on the Atlesian presence in the city. Recent surveys indicate that roughly thirty percent of the population feel uncomfortable with the military force Atlas has brought to the city, a stunning number for sure. When asked about this, the General in charge of said armada, James Ironwood, has delivered a statement saying such worries are unfounded. In his words, 'Atlas prides itself on its ability to guard Remnans, and that the massive fleet is symbolic of that.' Whether or not his words bring any comfort to the population remains to be seen."

I let out a yawn. Lisa continued, "In other news, citizens have started reported unusual rock formations forming on the coast side. According to testimonies by fishermen, it appears that formations similar to stalactites have been jutting out of the rocky cliffs near the opening of the bay. Experts are bewildered at the sight, with no current consensus on how such a phenomenon could occur." That got me to raise my eyebrow. Spiky rocks appearing out of nowhere? That's weird. Doesn't it take forever for rocks to wear down? I wonder what changed.

It didn't take long for us to get to the front of the line and pay for the earplugs. There was one minor incident where Weiss and Yang started to bicker about who should pay for our supplies, but before long we left the store without any further interruptions.

"So…" I started as I tore through the packaging holding my earplugs. "What are we going to do now? We still have an entire day until the concert.

"Hmm… I don't really know, to be honest." The blonde girl gave us all a shrug. "I mean I heard how lines for entering the concert can get pretty long, so it might be a good idea to reserve a spot now, but… it would get pretty boring just waiting in line to get seats in the first place. And plus we have assigned seating, so it's not like we're going to be losing a place to sit just because we didn't line up early. But hmm…" Yang scratched her head. "What do you guys feel like doing?"

Weiss let out a hum herself. "Well, the decorations for the Vytal Festival have to be done now. I guess we can just walk around the area and take in all of the culture brimming from the city of Vale."

"You mean like last time?" A smile crawled up Yang's face. "Are you sure this isn't going to be another attempt to scout out the rest of our competitors?"

"Oh please. That was then, and this is now. I think everyone's back at Beacon trying to rest up from yesterday." My partner took in a deep breath. "No, this is truly for the sake of enjoying art."

"I mean, I guess." I gave them a shrug. "I don't think we're going to be able to do anything else. I already have new parts for my baby coming in by mail, the tournament's going to be providing ammo this time around… maybe we can get Blake a book for the concert."

"No need for that." The cat faunus waved a copy of some book covered by a book cover. "I already have one."

"Is it Ninjas of Love again?" Yang glanced around the area. "I mean, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing or anything, but it's kinda funny knowing that you're reading smut at a concert of a band that sings romance songs."

"For the last time, it isn't smut!" Blake's face turned red as she pulled the book tight to her chest. "It's a romance story that occasionally delves into explicit material!"

"That's smut." My sister raised a finger and wagged it with a grin on her face. She pretended to push glasses up her face, doing her best Goodwitch impression. "It doesn't matter if the book has serious discussions about the definition of love; historically, if two people or more are going at it for the sake of arousing the reader, that is smut, Ms. Belladonna."

Blake groaned. "Yang!"

* * *

It was a hard task trying to stay awake in this elevator. A yawn escaped my mouth as I tugged at my hoodie and combed through my blonde hair. I've slept from the moment I got in bed until the afternoon, but I still feel so tired. I wonder if it's because my sleep cycle's off. Maybe that's why this is a free day for all of the first-years. It wouldn't be a good idea to force everyone to be so sleep deprived, especially in the days before the Vytal Festival in question.

My head started bobbing. I shot back up right before I felt myself fall. Focus, Jaune. I'm sure the Headmaster will be forgiving if you explain it to him. But still… why did he call me up, unless… The Cupid! I blinked a couple of times. Of course, I ran into it earlier back in the forest! Maybe he wants to talk to me about this! But at the same time… wouldn't he also call up Ruby? Where is she right now? I don't remember seeing her or her team anywhere today. There's no way they could be sleeping, otherwise Ruby would be here with me. Maybe she went somewhere?

The doors opened, revealing the green colored office space. One of the first things that I noticed about the room is the rich aroma of coffee wafting through the room. The Headmaster was next to a side table, tapping the top while looking at a coffee machine. "Good afternoon, Mr. Arc," the man said without turning around. "I hate to call you up here so soon after the simulation. If it isn't obvious enough, it does put some strain on a person's sleep cycle. It's regrettable, but that's the life of a Huntsmen. To be frank, it doesn't get any better. We just get used to it." He gestured to me. "Please, take a seat."

A yawn escaped my mouth as I plopped down in the visitor's chair. Within moments, the Headmaster walked over and handed me a mug filled with coffee. "Have some coffee. This particular blend is a great pick-me-up, I found. Has a particularly nutty taste straight from the machine, and there's no bitterness, so no need for sugar and creamer." I nodded, taking the cup in my hands and taking a sip. Hmm… he's right. It's not as bitter as I expected it to be. With that in mind, I swallowed.

Its effects hit me almost immediately. My eyes shot wide open as I can feel the tiredness be dragged out of me. I felt myself sit up taller, my muscles loosening as the brown substance took its effect. "Oh wow." I rubbed my eyes. "That… that's pretty strong. I feel so much better. Thank you, Headmaster." He nodded, smiling as I took another sip.

"You're welcome, Mr. Arc. Have you heard about the incident that occurred this morning?"

I hummed. "You mean the car hanging from the top of your office?" My eyes shot open. "Wait… that's here!" I shot up from my seat. "Is it still there? Nobody in my team believed that was a thing, but did it really happen? Where is it right now?"

"To answer your first question: yes, the car ornament incident was real. Glynda was quite livid when we first walked into the room. In fact, I've heard that she already punished the people responsible for this. As for the car itself, it's already been taken down. I'm sure the staff member would appreciate having their car back. But I have to admit, it was a nice change of pace around here."

A hum escaped my mouth. Was life as a Headmaster this boring for him? Well… compared to Hunting, doing anything else would be boring, I guess. I breathed air out of my nose before taking another sip from the mug. "Well, I think we should move on now. You called me up here to talk about something, right?"

He nodded, taking a sip from his own mug before setting it on the table. "I do. It's important to talk about what happened yesterday. Particularly about the Cupid that appeared to attack your group." My eyes widened. He knew all of that? The Headmaster raised his hand up before I could say a word. "Before you ask, yes I did see what happened when the Cupid attacked you, Ms. Fall, and Ms. Soleil. No, nobody else saw that footage, so there's no need to worry about keeping your cover." He sighed. "It's a shame that no matter what we do, the Cupid will find a way to keep dragging innocent people into this dangerous life."

"Yeah," I sighed back, taking another sip from the mug. "I don't know… And I thought we were getting closer than ever to getting the Arrow away from the creature. It's just— Something's not right. Like we're not seeing the bigger picture somehow. There's something that we're not considering about the creature. It might be the key to figuring out how to defeat it."

He nodded again. "I noticed that as well. That's the idea of this meeting today. For too long we've been trying to get the Arrow without knowing just what the Cupid is capable of. You've never seen it before you first started hunting the Arrow. Most Huntsmen aren't aware that such a Grimm even exists. Even I can't really say what his—its abilities are, and I've only seen it once in my life in person. We're going to try and pour over as much information as we can about this creature and try to create a profile on the Cupid. Maybe then we can find some kind of thread that can help your group in your next encounter."

"Right." I leaned back in my seat. "Well, what about Ruby? Wouldn't this be important for her to know about? Why didn't you invite her here?"

"She went off with her team to the city. I believe they were talking about some kind of event they wanted to go to. While I don't mind her spending time with her team to relax, unfortunately, this is the last day we can talk to each other about the Cupid before I get swamped with the matter of the Vytal Festival. But I'm sure that you'll be able to tell her about our meeting. So with that in mind, let's start with our task at hand."

The Headmaster typed something onto the projected keyboard on his desk. Metal panels started sliding down the glass windows, cutting us away from the light of the afternoon sun. The only source of sunlight came from the skylight above the two of us. Gear shadows shifted on the ground. With that Headmaster Ozpin took out what looked to be a first-generation scroll and placed it on the table. Weren't these the ones that were panned because they couldn't connect to the CCT? It was due to some kind of hardware flaw or something. But why would the Headmaster own one of these?

He smiled. "I like to keep all of my sensitive data on this. I used to prefer paper before this first came out. It takes a lot more effort leaking paper documents than online data, after all. I'm sure the rest of the students weren't told of this, but somebody broke into the CCT during the day of the dance. We can't find any malware or modifications that could affect the CCT, but it's always best to stay careful. But with this, I don't have to worry about it being tampered with through the CCT. How does the saying go? 'One man's trash is another man's treasure.'" His smile dropped. "And now we talk."

A series of pictures appeared on the screen, each having a blurry image of the Grimm baby. All of them were then placed on a giant map of Vale. "I've tried compiling a list of every single image and location for the Cupid. We know that it was in the school forges when Ms. Rose was hit. Then there were the docks when you and Ms. Rose tried looking into the situation. From there the Cupid returned to Beacon and attacked Team RWBY's room. Weeks passed before there was another attack here at Beacon, right before the improvised talent show. Then the most recent attack: right here in the Emerald Forest."

I let out a soft gasp. "It's not as random as I thought it was. There's a pattern…"

The Headmaster nodded. "So you see it as well. For some reason the Cupid is focusing its efforts on the school and the areas directly around it. The only exception is the docks within the Industrial District, which I thought was an unusual outlier. And while there are other reports of other Stand users, I can confirm that these users had their Stands unlocked long before recent events."

A hum escaped my mouth. "But why would the Cupid prefer Huntsmen over several other perfectly fine candidates? There have to be more choices in the city where the Arrow could potentially hit a person that won't resist when the bad guys try to recruit them. Why choose Huntsmen, a group of individuals whose job is to protect Remnans from destruction by Grimm? Even the worst kind of Huntsmen will protect civilization with their life. It makes no sense."

"That's what I was thinking as well." Ozpin pressed his fingers together. "There are two factors that can answer this question. One, you did neglect how Stands will tend to form within people with strong willpower. Huntsmen, no matter their moral or ethical stance, tend to have a lot of willpower. You wouldn't be in a dangerous career like this one if you didn't have the determination to fight an endless horde of Grimm. So it would make sense that Huntsmen would be an ideal pick for the Stand Arrow than others. However, it doesn't explain why every single target has been Huntsmen so far."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm getting to that right now. There's a second factor that I recently thought of: what if that's because it only has access to Beacon?" A hum escaped my mouth as the Headmaster cleared his throat. "Think about it. Isn't it unusual to have a Grimm not only enter the most prestigious school in all of Remnant, let alone infiltrate it? Intelligent Grimm recognize the fact that being in the presence of Huntsmen will lead to their deaths. And yes, while the Cupid is sentient, it also means that it has even less reason to be here. So why—" He pressed a button, drawing a circle around Beacon, like a search radius. "—does it choose to stay close to Beacon?" Ozpin steepled his hands.

"This is my theory. As powerful as the Cupid is, it is still a tangible being with physical limitations. It must be bound by a certain set of rules… whatever those set of rules are. But I think, like Stands, the Cupid is bound to something or someone. Like how a baby doesn't want to leave its mother's warm comfort. Whatever that mystery object or person is, the Cupid can't move too far away from that thing. That's why the majority of the people chosen by the Cupid happened to be within Beacon. It's not that it  _wouldn't_  spread out its targets, but that it couldn't."

I scratched the side of my head. "But it doesn't explain the docks, or Nolan being hit."

"That's unfortunately true." The Headmaster shook his head. "It is an unusual outlier. But if we can apply this theory to that, it makes more sense. If someone was in fact tethered to the Cupid in some manner, they could just go to the docks, bringing the Cupid with them."

"So if we were able to figure that out…" My eyes widened. "We could stop the Cupid right there and then! But wouldn't that make the Cupid a Stand?"

"Absolutely not. I know for sure that it's a Grimm." Headmaster Ozpin glanced down at the desk for a moment before swallowing. His eyes dulled for just a moment. "It's not something you forget…" He glanced back up. "But never mind that. We now know of one proper way to deal with the Cupid: find out who or what is serving as the Cupid's anchor and severe the connection. But just in case that's not possible, we should have at least another option before we wrap up today. We need to know how to react if any of the Stand users run into the Cupid."

"Well, I know for a fact that it can dodge projectiles pretty well. The Cupid managed to dodge every shot I've made at it, so that's not going to work. It can fly, which means no melee weapons either." I sighed. "Which means our only options so far are either to use our Stand or run. And even then, the Stand option isn't exactly something I can do anyways." I sighed. "In all of the fights we had against the Cupid, I don't think anyone managed to hit it even once. I thought I did last night with the branch, but then it disappeared. And now it's just all so confusing."

I groaned. "At this point, the only thing I know that can be used to our advantage is that the Cupid is obsessed with keeping the Arrow safe. I guess the Arrow itself is still just an item and that it could be broken. My idea was that it would act recklessly to protect the weapon, and it did for the most part. Still didn't give us a big enough window to actually do something to the creature."

At that the Headmaster sat up. "Actually, it might be something we can use to our advantage. If we know that the Cupid wants to protect the Arrow with its life, then it should be fairly easy to drive it away from potential targets. Just become a big enough threat that the Cupid will have to run away. And if we can do that, then we can stop any more damage, buying us enough time to come up with a plan to end the Cupid's life for good." He stood up. "I think this is a good stopping point for our conversation. If you happen to run into Team RWBY by any chance, make sure you give that information to them."

"Alright, then." I stood up. "Goodbye, Headmaster."

"Have a good afternoon, Mr. Arc."

* * *

_It was the soft, warm beam of the early morning sun that roused the female ninja. Momo opened her eyes, revealing the well-worn ceiling of their humble abode. The fragrant scents of red roses and camellias wafted into her nose. Letting out a silent groan, she turned over to her side, where the love of her life slept. Most of his body was covered by the blanket, but she could make out the chiseled physique born from a life of war, his tanned skin matching hers, the scars gained throughout their years together. As both partners and lovers._

_The scar on her thigh throbbed somewhat as she reminisced. A mischievous smile crawled up her face as she remembered the events of the previous night, the pleasure the two shared still coursing through her. A giggle escaped Momo's mouth as she pulled herself close to her lover. "Mureba," she sighed as she nuzzled her face into the man's chest, causing the man to crack open one eyelid. "Good morning, handsome. Did you have a good time last night?"_

" _I should ask the same for you." He gave her a peck on the cheek as a stray hand wrapped around her back, sending jolts of pleasure through Momo. "But yes, I loved it. Your energy even after a long day of work really does surprise me sometimes."_

" _We both used to be ninjas, remember? I think it's kinda normal that we have superior stamina."_

" _In more ways than one." The sun slowly rose up into the sky as they did nothing but stare into each other's eyes, keeping each other warm during the chilly fall morning. "Now that I think about it, it's our anniversary today, right? The day when we first became partners for the Kobura, when we first met." She nodded, breathing in Mureba's scent. The man released his lover and leaned over the bed, reaching for something. "Do you remember the conversation we had that day?"_

" _Yeah," she sighed. "It was about textiles, I think. I always thought it was a weird subject to talk about when we first met, but I never expected a man like you to be so knowledgeable about that."_

" _Well, I have an anniversary gift for you." He handed her a small box. "I hope you like it."_

_She opened the lid of the box only to gasp. "Mureba… you didn't have too." The female ninja pulled out a big roll of a silk ribbon dyed bright yellow like the sun. "This must be thirty meters worth of silk ribbon. That has to be a lot of money. How did you afford all of this?"_

" _It pays to be part of a community, I suppose. You know the Hata family? The ones we helped with their extortion problem? They actually have a silkworm farm and sell raw silk. They were more than happy to help me out with making this for you." He glanced away. "Originally I wanted to give you this for your birthday. But it took a long time, even with everyone working together to make this much silk. But thankfully we finished it before our anniversary, and I feel like this gift fits better." Mureba gave his lover a smile. "Pretty good for a family of farmers and an ex-ninja turned farmer. Do you like it?"_

" _Like it? I love it!" An ooph escaped from the man as Momo pounced on him. "Thank you so much!" Her eyes dilated as the two's eyes met. "I love you."_

" _I love you too." The couple pressed their lips together once more, giving into the bliss of the fall morning. Their room disappeared from their minds as they focused only on each other, embracing each other's warmth._

_Momo pulled away, breathing heavily into the chest of her man."This is getting me pretty excited… I can feel your excitement under me as well." Her eyes narrowed seductively. "Why don't we put these ribbons to good use? It's been awhile since we got the opportunity to practice our binding skills."_

" _More than anything in the world." Mureba lifted up the blanket, revealing his lover's body in all of its beautiful glory—_

"Blaaaaaaake," Yang whispered into my ear. "Are you paying attention?"

"What the—!" I yelped as I jerked back, slamming my book shut before nearly falling off the curb. This sent my partner into hysterics. Weiss and Ruby glanced at me for a moment before returning to their whispering. My ear twitched. Something about Ruby's eyes? I'm going to need to get more clarification after the show. But oh my gods, I hope nobody else noticed that. I glanced at the line. Yeah, everybody's looking at us. This is so embarrassing.

I felt the blood rush to my face as I resisted flattening my ears. "Yang! What is wrong with you?"

"Oh gods, that was priceless!" The blonde brawler doubled over in laughter. "You should've seen your face when you freaked out! At least I know you weren't using your earplugs to block your dear partner out. Don't worry Blakey, if it helps you sleep at night I didn't look at much of the text." Despite her reassurance she still had a big, doofus grin on her face. My eyes narrowed. Did she really?

"Yang, I'm not an idiot. I can tell when you're lying, and from what I can tell you're definitely hiding something. What did you see?"

"Nothing," my partner chirped, letting out a two-tone whistle as she glanced at the sky.

"I'm serious, Yang." I gritted my teeth as I stared right into her eyes. "What. Did. You. See?"

"I mean, now that I think about it…" She tapped the side of her cheek. "I do recall seeing a little bit of something. Something about giving a lover a ribbon." I sighed. Okay, so she didn't read up to the sex scene. "I mean, they got pretty creative with that ribbon. It's pretty kinky stuff, Blake. Makes me wonder what you were really planning on doing with the ribbon on Gambol Shroud."

My face lit on fire as I swatted at the girl. Not a single word escaped my mouth. Instead, everything was just a set of grunts and groans of displeasure.

"What's wrong, Blake? Did your tongue get all tied up?" I swear everyone within three meters of us let out a long groan.

"Yaaaang," Ruby moaned. "Stop teasing Blake. We're so close to the front of the line, and if you somehow managed to get kicked out of the concert you wanted to go to—"

"Okay! Okay, I'll stop." Yang held her hands up in defense. "Sorry about that Blake. But I just can't stop myself from teasing you every time I see you with that book. I couldn't just let the opportunity just slip away from me."

I sighed. "Well, we're about to enter the Unity Amphitheater, so I was planning on stopping soon anyways. But first—" I popped the book back open. "What page was I on? It should be here somewhere…" Come on… I know it was the beginning of chapter eight, so where is it… Oh. Right here. I slipped a bookmark between the two pages before closing the tome again. "So, how many people do we have left until we get in?"

"Just one more person," Weiss said. Her face twisted in impatience as the last guy fumbled around his ironed blazer. Nervous noises started escaping his mouth as his head twisted and turned to find his ticket, causing his floppy ears to swing side to side. I raised my eyebrow up. Huh. A bloodhound faunus. That's interesting. At the same time, his presence is odd. I didn't know that this band appealed to businessmen. Maybe this guy is a long time fan, or maybe just a romantic at heart. The heiress continued: "Oh come on. Shouldn't this guy have prepared beforehand? He's just holding up the line!"

"I'm sorry about that, ma'am. I didn't mean for this to happen, I swear. It's just— I know I had it here somewhere." He patted his pockets yet again. "Aw, crud crud crud— That little girl must've stolen it! That must be the case!" The man turned towards the man in the booth. "I'm sorry about this, I'll return after I find the girl who stole my ticket." He turned around, revealing a dark-skinned man with short brown hair and Windsor glasses. The man looked meek, but for some reason I feel like his glance at me was more hostile than it should've been. "Excuse me, ladies."

"Well… that was weird," Ruby noted as he sprinted away from us. "At least we don't have to worry about the line anymore." We all pulled out our tickets. "Come on, guys! We'll buy some snacks before the show!"

We entered the auditorium without further incident. Around us the crowd chatted amongst each other, lounging around the waiting area before the doors open. There were a ton of stalls laying around, each one trying to sell various Achieve Men merchandise. I eyed a couple of them. Keychains, albums, commemorative t-shirts, snapbacks with the band logo, band logo stickers, and so much more junk lined the stalls. I found it really hard not to cringe as I passed through all of those stalls. What a waste of money. Who knows how many wage workers died mass producing these dumb trinkets.

But still, it was nice seeing Ruby cheer in happiness when she saw all of the food that they were selling in the building. I couldn't help but smile as I watched our team leader rush towards the food stands with a fist full of lien, with Weiss following close behind to stop her from doing anything too brash. Even after everything that has happened with the Arrow, there's still a sense of childlike wonder in her. In fact, everyone in Team RWBY is just a nice change of pace compared to… back then with the White Fang.

I puckered a bit. Now that I think about it… they've been awfully quiet. It's odd… they more or less haven't tried anything ever since the fight with the Paladin. But that can't be right. There's no way that the White Fang would just stop their operations after Torchwick disappeared, even if they were working with him. I remember how our section of the White Fang would stay low in the days before a major attack. It could be the same thing here. A 'hmm' sound escaped my mouth. What could they be doing?

Whatever thoughts I had disappeared when I glanced at the now dense crowd of people. I blinked. Wait, when did they get here? Several people are within maybe a foot away from me. The small talk was starting to wane down, replaced by whispers of frustration. I felt sweat starting to slide down my face. Crowds… it gets so suffocating sometimes. Especially crowds that are frustrated and tense for whatever reason. I felt a shiver run down my back. Riots that emerged from peaceful protest, the battle with  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** a week ago… angry crowds are not to be messed with.

From the corner of my eye, I caught Yang with her hands in her pockets, whistling to herself. I slid my way through the crowd and waved a hand at her. "Yang," I said. The girl didn't do anything. I spoke up a little louder. "Yang, over here." Our eyes met and she walked over with an eyebrow raised. I held a hand up to her ears. "When do we get our seats? This crowd is getting a little too tense for my liking."

"Hopefully soon." Yang pulled out her scroll. "We got registered in a little early compared to the others, but considering how many people there are here right now and the fact that it's—" She glanced at the scroll. "—Seven o'clock right now, I'd say that the doors should be opening anytime—"

"Helloooooo everybody!" A voice rumbled through the PA system, causing everybody to go silent. "It's R. Lazer on the mic right now!" He let out a laugh. "Just kidding, you're listening to a recording of me. The real me's currently with the rest of the Achieve Men making sure that this concert is the best concert ever! But I can't help but think of all of you fans right here, right now. So I have to ask, how's everyone doing?"

The crowd burst into a chorus of screaming. Several people around me cried their praises to the band and how they were big fans. Yang was hollering along with the rest of them, laughing the whole entire time. At that moment Ruby and Weiss came back. The heiress had a pout on her face as Ruby stuffed her face with a giant bucket of— cookies? They actually sell those? Huh. Despite their different moods, my team joined the collective cheering.

A laugh could be heard over the PA. "Wow guys, I love the energy here! I can hear it backstage, and you guys aren't even through the doors yet! Speaking of which, the gracious employees at the Unity Amphitheater will be opening the doors now. All you have to do is show them your ticket stubs from before and they will point out where your seat will be. For everyone, from first-timers and returning fans, I ask that you please respect the seating arrangements printed on the ticket stub. We're all here to share in the fun and love of music, after all. I'm sure we can respect our fellow Remnans."

R. Lazer continued: "And also give out some love to the employees! They work hard to make this show a reality, and a little thanks will go a long way! Anyways, I should be finishing up the preparations for the concert. Thank you all and welcome to the Achieve Men Vytal Concert Experience! I'll see you guys at seven thirty!" The PA clicked, and everything went silent.

Moments later the doors leading into the main hall shot wide open. Every door had four employees standing on the sides of the doors. "Good evening everyone we're here to seat you all. If your seat is within sections A or B, please form two lines at door one. If your seat is within sections C or D please form two lines at door two. If your seat is within sections E or F, please line up at door three—"

"Oh hey, that's ours," Yang noted as she held up her stub. "E-17. Yep." She waved her hand at us. "Come on, guys! We gotta get to door three before the line gets too long!"

Before we knew it, we made it through yet another line and were seated. "Ah, yes!" Yang shimmied on the leather seat before leaning back. "This is the life! Man, this was more than what I was expecting! These seats are surprisingly comfy, and it feels so relaxing." She let out a long yawn. "I might actually fall asleep at this rate. It's like a really nice bed." I hummed in agreement. This is higher class than I thought it would be. I was expecting more cotton seats, maybe memory foam, but this is really comfortable seats. It would be great doing a bit of reading here. Maybe I should buy a leather seat for Beacon.

I started emptying my pockets and placing them into one of those pouches underneath the seat. Ticket stub, scroll, those foam earplugs, lien pouch, everything went into that mesh bag. It wasn't like that stuff was going to be stolen. I wasn't expecting to leave my seat anyways. Plus, I had Yang sitting to my left and Weiss to my right. Even if I had to leave for some kind of bathroom break or something, there's no way these guys would let anybody come close to my stuff.

With that out of the way, I took out  _Ninjas of Love_ and opened it to where I left off. I should have some downtime. I'm sure that I can get through a couple more pages until somebody reminds me to put the earplugs on—

Movement caught my attention, causing me to look up. My eyebrows raised up. A tanned brunette with her hair in a ponytail sat a couple of rows in front of us. She was fidgeting a bit too much for my liking. It's pretty distracting. But at the same time… there's something familiar about her. Like I've seen her somewhere, but I just can't put my finger on where. I racked my brain for answers. Hmm… where have I seen her—

She stood up and turned towards us. I resisted gasping as I saw a familiar set of gray eyes on that freckled face. Ilia? What the— I pulled my book to cover my entire face. Did she see me? Oh gods, I hope not. How long has it been since we've talked to each other? Way too long, it must be.

From my peripheral vision, I watched Ilia make her way towards the exit. What is she doing? Is she planning on doing something for the White Fang? My eyes widened. Is this where the White Fang are going to make their move? I slammed my book cover shut. Whatever the answer is, I can't let her get out of my sight.

"Uh, sorry guys," I muttered as I shot up from my seat. Already she's two-thirds of the way to the exit. I gotta hurry up if I don't want to lose sight of her. "I— uh… I gotta use the restroom and then buy something to eat. Completely forgot about doing that, haha, silly me." I gave them my best grin.

"Uh, Blake?" Ruby asked. "Are you okay? You're scaring me…"

"Of course I'm good!" I glanced at my former friend. She's really close to the exit… "If we're going to be here for awhile, I'd rather make sure I'm all ready, right guys?"

"Hmm… good point." Ruby nodded her head. "It's weird how enthusiastic you got… But I'm sure everything is going to be fine, Blake. Go ahead and do whatever you need to do. Don't worry, we'll protect all of your stuff!"

"Thanks." I scooted my way past Weiss and started creeping towards Ilia. At this point she just slipped through the doors. I gritted my teeth. A part of me wanted to warn the others about what's going to happen. At the same time, something tells me that this crowd would need them more. I steeled my resolve. Whatever she's planning on doing to this concert, I can't let it succeed! I'm going to need to do whatever it takes to stop Ilia. Even if that means ending her life.

I burst through the interior doors, glancing through the lobby for my former friend. It wouldn't be easy, considering I was going against a chameleon faunus who can change her skin tone. Not to mention that she has infiltration skills that could rival mine. It wouldn't surprise me if she kept changing her skin tone ever so slightly before every corner to throw pursuers off— My eyes snapped to a familiar chameleon-esque ponytail bobbing through a small crowd, heading towards the front exit. There she is! I should go right after—

Wait a minute. I narrowed my eyes as I took cover behind some kind of sofa, earning weird looks from the people around me. She didn't change her color. In fact, it was way too easy to find her this time around. What is she planning? Is this actually a trap? What if she's trying to pull me away from my team into some kind of ambush? I bit my lip. But what if she isn't? Then she goes unchecked to do whatever she wants! I gnawed on my bottom lip as one leg started shaking up and down. No way. I have to call Team RWBY. If there is an attack planned for me, I need somebody to watch my back— And where's my scroll?

My hands patted my pocket. What the— My scroll's gone! Where could I— The concert! I left it back with the rest of the team… Oh, this is not good. Should I go back and just tell them in person? But what if I lose Ilia? How would the rest of the team know who to look for if I'm not there and—

Ilia slipped through the front exit. I can call them from some kind of public terminal! It won't matter if I lose her right now! I sprang out from my hiding spot, rushing for the exit. Screams of frustration and confusion escaped from the crowd as I pushed through them. "Sorry," I muttered as I slipped under the arm of one girl. "Pardon me," I grumbled as I bumped one guy. There's no way I'm going to lose Ilia now!

I burst through the front door, revealing a bright orange sunset bathing the entire street. Some of the street lights flickered on as the shadows of the surrounding buildings swallowed them up. And for some reason, this street was even more crowded than before! What's with the crowd tonight? I thought everybody who wanted to go to the concert— Come on, Blake. I gently smacked my cheeks. Focus on the task. Number one objective is to find Ilia and figure out what she's doing. You can worry about everything else later once you've caught up to—

"Oh my gods. I don't believe it." Chills flew up my spine when I heard those soft, kind words. Memories of the past ran through my mind, from when I used to run away from baths to when I first learned how to read. Bubbles of joy resurfaced as past memories of peaceful protests resolved with words appeared again. Thorns of regret sank into me when I recall the day I left my home for Vale. There's no way… they can't possibly be here right now. Do I want to look? To face them again after so long?

My body twisted around. A couple stood roughly three meters behind me. One of them was a tall, bulky man with a bushy plume of a beard. A dark violet coat with white trim hung loosely from his shoulders, exposing his bare chest to the world. Beside him was a petite woman with short hair in a black hakama, the dress of Menagerie. A set of cat ears, both pierced, raised upwards on the woman's hair. All of our eyes met, amber pools peering at each other. One word finally escaped from the woman's mouth: "Blake?"

"Mom? Dad?"

"Oh, Blake!" Before I could get away, my mom pounced on me, pulling me tight into a hug. Sobbing noises escaped from her mouth as she stroked through my hair. "My baby girl! I'm so glad to see you! Oh, it's been so, so long…"

"Blake…" my father sighed before a small smile grew on his face. He joined me and Mom in the family hug, forcing the air out of my lungs. Oh gods… I think my skin was turning blue. Not like a Yang hug. Like actual suffocation. I wiggled myself around. Can't… breathe… "My gods, it's great to see you after so long. Hearing about you leaving Menagerie was hard on your mother and me." He released his grip on the two of us. "But I think we should all catch up with tea instead of here on the streets. It's been a long time since I've been to Vale, but I remember a nice tea shop just a couple blocks away from here. Will you join us?"

I opened my mouth to speak before stopping. Wait a minute, Ilia! My eyes darted through the street. Where did she go? Oh gods, I can't lose her now! It couldn't be more than a minute—

Before I could do a proper search, my father laughed, pulling me close to him by the shoulder. "Alright then. It's getting pretty late, so we should hurry before the tea shop closes."

"Wait, dad. Couldn't we do it another time? I'm kinda busy at the moment." I tried shimmying myself out of his firm grasp. "You see, I'm actually taking one of my friends to a concert and it's going to start soon—"

"Then we'll have to make our trip to the tea shop to go. It's a shame we can't sit around and enjoy a proper round of tea, but we'll have to make do." He leaned his head in extremely close to me. I shivered as I felt his breath run down my neck. "It's just a quick stop. I'm sure you'll make it back to your friends in time for the concert."

"Uh, I guess… but could you back away just a couple of steps, dad?" I managed to pull myself out of his grip. "You know how I am with my private space."

"Right, right. I… I've forgotten about that." Dad let out another laugh. "I guess some things never change, do they?" We started making our way to that tea shop. "Oh, right. Now that I think about it, I think the tea shop is also a steakhouse that sells Kobe beef. I remember it being pretty good last time we visited. Now I know that you have something to do, but maybe we can schedule a dinner during the weekend so we can have a proper talk together?"

"Sure," I nodded, my mind racing while we continued our walk. Okay, what in the world's happening right now? First I spot Ilia in the concert doing something suspicious, and I chased after her only to run into my parents. There's something wrong. Really, really wrong. It was a surprise for sure, meeting somebody from my past. But then again, that wouldn't be suspicious within itself. But meeting my parents right outside the amphitheater in a city that is ten times the size of Patch, itself a fairly big island? There are too many coincidences for this to happen. There's something up, and I have to figure out what.

My mother let out a sigh. "Well, here we are." I looked up to see a quaint little hut. A logo with a t-bone and a teacup adorned the top of the establishment. Wait a minute, are we here already? I must've been too focused on my thoughts. Mom walked forwards. "It looks like the shop is still open. Let's go in, shall we?" I sighed. It's not like I have a choice.

Inside felt extremely cozy. The shop clearly took inspirations from Mistral. There were no tables, only a counter with diner seats. From the looks of it, nobody else was there. A cook who looks like the shopkeeper in town hummed to himself as he rubbed spices on the meat. Mom and Dad each took seats to the side of me. "Chef, we would like to order three cups of tea. Oolong, if you have it. Also can you get me and my wife steak? Cook them just enough to be safe to eat." That caused me to raise my eyebrows. Since when did mom and dad eat steak like that? It's always medium for them.

The cook nodded. "And for you, young woman?"

I waved him off. "I'm not hungry, thank you." The cook rolled his eyes and started sizzling the steak. Not two seconds after dropping them on the grill, he snatched them right off, placing them on two separate plates with a steak knife and fork. I bit my lip. There's no way that could possibly be cooked right. That is food poisoning in the making! There's no way that my parents would—

Both of them smiled as they took it. Wait, what? They then slid the utensils off of the table, picked up the slabs of meat, and started ripping out chunks of it like wolves. Juices dripped down their faces as they feasted upon the meat. I swore that at one point, Mom stuffed her entire hand into her mouth to lick the rest of the juice off. A drop of sweat slipped down my face. Okay, there's something wrong with this. Something terribly, terribly wrong. That can't be Mom and Dad. No way! Who the hell are these people?

"Ma'am, your drink." I turned over to see the chef with the cup completely wrapped in his hands. "What are you doing? Go ahead and take the drink."

"That's fine, you can just set it on the counter," I replied.

"I insist. Take the drink out of my hands."

"Blake, it's rude not to listen to the chef," 'mom' replied, taking another bite out of the raw steak. "Listen to what he says."

"You know what?" I stood up. "It's been great talking to you, but I really have to leave." I waved my left hand at the cook. "Nevermind about the tea, we can have some later."

Dad frowned at me. "Can't you at least humor the man?"

That caused me to frown. "Why does everybody insist on me taking the tea? I said I don't—"

"Take the tea!" He snatched my wrist. Oh, that's— I grabbed one of the steak knives and slammed it point first into the chef's forearm. An unearthly scream escaped from the man's mouth as he let go of me. The blade must've sunk an inch into his flesh. More than enough to gouge flesh out from somebody without unlocked Aura. However, nothing came out. No blood, no nothing. My eyes widened as I pulled the knife out. What in the—

" _Oh, we got you now,"_ the figure impersonating my mom said, giving me a toothy grin. Her canines were growing larger by the minute. I can see the chef and 'dad' grow canines as well.  _"_ **「** **REDBONE** **」** _has your scent. We will follow you until the end of days, hunting our target for our master."_

A meep escaped my mouth as all three of them started morphing in front of me. They started scrunching forwards, their faces started protruding outwards, their skin started peeling back, revealing muscle. It's like seeing werewolves transform for the first time if the whole transformation process was messed up. I swear I could see mist escaping from everyone's mouth as their transformation was completed.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** appeared by my side. This is not good!

They all pounced at me, teeth bared wide. Every single one of them aiming for my neck.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = February 16, 2018**

* * *

**Fox's Bizarre Adventure - Act 1**

A gasp escaped my mouth as I ripped my weapon out from an Ursa. Alright, Fox. Concentrate. Let your ears do the seeing. I held my breath and relaxed my body, allowing the rippling outline in my head to clear somewhat. A masculine grunt to my right, followed by another Ursa roar. Above and to the left of me was the symphony of thousands of .50 caliber rounds thundering past me. A squeak escaped from a girl roughly in front of me and the sounds of kicking before the telltale cry of an Ursa in pain. As for footsteps… I took in a deep breath. Maybe three pairs left? I'm not really sure. I need a bit more information.

I rolled my shoulders as the spirit of **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** appeared behind me, smacking one of his tuning forks into the ground before retreating back. In an instant the image in my head cleared, revealing the outlines of my teammates and three Ursa. Two of the bear outlines collapsed to the ground, one with a hooked sword buried in its chest and the other shot into two pieces from machine gun fire. Already the image was becoming murky again, but the last Ursa was still standing when a petite rabbit faunus leaped off. Well, that's my cue then.

Before Velvet can land on the ground, I shot off, sprinting towards the last enemy. I readied my blade tonfas: Kitsune and Kumiho. At this point the only thing indicating that there was an Ursa in front of me were the sound of my footsteps. Even then, I could only make out a blur in my head. Good enough for me, I'd say.

"Cover your ears!" I yelled out. My guardian spirit shot out from me seconds later, slamming its hands together. A discordant squeal rang through the battlegrounds, like a nail on a chalkboard. Or maybe a nail on the side of a car. The point is that the noise caused everyone to let out whines of their own, including the Ursa itself. It stumbled back for just a moment. Before it could try anything else, Kumiho bit into the Grimm's throat. That familiar oily substance shot out, splattering onto my body. Ugh. I shuddered in disgust as I flicked the fluid off. Dark fur rubbed against my leg moments later as the Ursa flopped to the ground.

"Whew… well, I think it's over now," Coco groaned from behind me. I can hear the clicks of her weapon Feu folding back up into a small designer handbag. "I'd say that's a job well done. Those Ursai won't be messing with the travelers anymore." She let out a hum. "I know that should be the entire nest, but something's bugging me. Fox, use your Semblance for maybe… let's go with two kilometers. Try to look for any hunting groups not with the main nest or any potential hiding spots."

I nodded.  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** flew as high up as possible while vibrating its face. The air around us became jittery, expanding outwards. With the outline of the world infinitely more clear to me, I took a deep breath. "Okay… Well, I don't see any major movement aside from nature just taking its course." Coco snickered before letting out a hum of acknowledgment. I continued as my field of 'sight' grew: "But I don't see any shapes that could indicate Grimm, whether it's Ursai or any other species. I think it's safe to say that we took care of the—"

My words were cut short when my image of the land northeast of us suddenly… changed. I furrowed my brow. It's no longer rounded, natural shapes. No, there was something different about it. Everything in that area had a sharper design, like it was— manmade. Wait a minute… a Mistralian ruin? No, that can't be right. Judging from when the vibrations hit it, this thing had to be maybe eight hundred meters from us. But that's impossible. The abandoned colonies have to be at least five kilometers away from us. There's no way one can be right here. Plus, wouldn't somebody know about this and tell us?

"Fox?" Velvet's petite hands tapped me on the shoulder. "You've been quiet for awhile. What's going on?"

"It's— I found a set of ruins just… there, in the forest." Everybody let out puzzled hums. "I know, I'm confused about it as well. How could there be a set of ruins in undeveloped territory? But I know vibrations never lie, and I know that it's in… that direction." I pointed towards the structure.

"Well, I don't think it matters why it's still there," my team leader hummed. "What I'm worried about is that it might be a decent hiding spot for Grimm." The sounds of a finger tapping against leather caught my attention. "… Fox, do you notice any figures within those ruins?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I think it's something we can just ignore— No, wait." I felt the heat disappear from my face as I sensed the void within the ruins. "It goes underground. There's an opening somewhere on the outside. Broken down hatch, if I have to guess. I can't exactly tell what's going on down there. Need to get closer to see if there's anything else still inside."

"Right…" Coco clicked her tongue. "How big is the hole?"

"Enough to squeeze in an Ursa."

"Ugh, gods," the girl muttered. "That's still well within prowling range of the caravan route. What we're doing here will mean squat if even one survived in there. And does it have to be ruins?" I can make out her shuttering. "Disgusting damp claustrophobic hallways… Okay, CFVY! Push forward! We have to make sure this doesn't get out of hand! Fox!" I turned towards her voice. "Get in front! You're leading us there!" I felt something smack my butt as I walked passed her. "You're doing good."

A amused chuckle escaped my mouth. "You really need to lay off with those grabs. I might be blind, but it's not like I can't see what you're doing, Coco."

"Nope." She popped the 'p' in particular. "What can I say? I like making my compliments intimate."

I shook my head, letting out another chuckle as the rest of my team followed me. A good fifteen minutes passed. There was me in front, allowing  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** to do its thing within the confines of my body. The rest of my team never said a word, sticking close to me. It's not a situation I would feel too comfortable with. After all, my effective field of 'view' is basically whatever I can detect from soundwaves, and having any kind of noise would boost my reception a bit. Then again finding a ruin in the middle of nowhere is weird as well.

Only when we managed to arrive at the decaying structure in question did Coco speak up. "What in the world? This is a bunker." I could make out the sound of skin rubbing against cement. "Okay, so that makes a little bit more sense, I think. A bunker in the middle of nowhere seems a lot more reasonable than an actual colony or something. And no wonder nobody found it after so long. Whoever made this put in a lot of time making sure the overgrowth made the building blend in with the rest of the forest." She snapped her fingers. "Fox, anything you can tell us about the building?"

I nodded my head, focusing on the outline in my head. "Well, the entrance is on the same side as us, maybe a couple meters to the left of us. It's definitely Ursa-sized, but I'm starting to notice that the entrance was made bigger." I narrowed my eyebrows. "There are clear indentations within the sides of the front entrance as well as chipped pieces of cement from the frame. Somebody must've punched a hole for the Grimm to come through."

"So like an evil Yang?" Coco noted.

"… I don't know who that is, but if she punches hard and fast, then sure thing."  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** went in deeper into the building. "It's a lot bigger than it looks. There's an entire underground bunker, with elevators and everything! It's really fancy for what should just be a bunker in the middle of nowhere… Maybe it was a research facility?" I shrugged. "Getting off topic again, sorry. Point is that there's plenty of places for Grimm to hide. And I know for sure that there's Grimm movement down there."

"And that means we have to go into that old, abandoned deathtrap." My team leader let out another shutter. "The things we have to do for the good of all Remnans… Well then, it's not like we have any other choice. Everyone, scroll lights on. Except for you, Fox." I nodded, tapping my foot on the ground while the rest of them prepared their lights. As soon as they're done, we're doing our formation for entering building… How did our usual formation work when it comes to close quarters combat? First there's me, then there's… was it Coco or Velvet? It feels like both of them could be— no, it's Coco. Definitely Coco. Then rounding up the back was Velvet and Yatsu.

The moment everyone finally got their things together, we went in. I let out a shiver the moment the cold air enveloped around me. Whew, that's ice cold. Like a cold early morning in the bay. Gods, it's almost like one of the effects of that one user— No, don't think about that right now. The past is in the past. That user's never going to hurt anyone ever again. She's not here, nor will she ever be. I mean, of course this place would be cold. It's a laboratory buried underground, after all. It's supposed to be cold.

But back to the task at hand. I focused my guardian spirit's power. "Not locating any kind of Grimm so far," I reported. "But now that we're in here, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was. It's maybe three or four floors, and there's always a decent-sized plaza-esque formation in the center of every floor. Kinda like the upper levels of a mall with that center opening leading down to the main floor." The sigh of the fashionista didn't escape my ears, bringing a smile to my face. I continued: "In fact, we should be approaching it soon-ish. I can't really tell with my eyes, but how's the lighting situation?"

Velvet's ears flopped and rubbed against each other as I could make out her shaking her head. "Not too good. The light bulbs either don't work or are currently smashed against the floor. It's all ground into a fine powder by now."

"Oh, really? That explains the weird gripping the floor had on my boots." We continued onwards. But yeah… aside from what I said before, it didn't seem like there's anything else about this bunker. A bit fancy, but I think it really is just abandoned. I let out a sigh. "No signs of Grimm so far. At this point we should be getting close to the plaza—" A small crack registered in my ears. The ground! The foundation's cracking up, and it's going to break any time now!

"Everyone, back away right now!" My hand shot out, stopping the rest of my team from advancing. "The floor's unstable right in front of us—"

Before I could finish my thoughts, the sound of crumbling cement rang throughout the corridor. Okay, Fox. You have to focus. From the sounds of it, the ground's crumbling a couple of meters ahead of us. Still have to be careful, though. Cracks can move extremely quickly, and I'm not going to know exactly where they will form. We could still be standing on bad ground at this very moment. I started taking steps back. There's bound to be a safe point somewhere. It's going to be risky, but I have to use  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** to find where a steel beam is within this place—

I felt myself falling. "Fox!" Coco snatched my arm. "Yatsu, get over here! Come on! Don't worry Fox, we'll get you out of there— Ahh!" Before I knew it, I found myself falling again, this time with Coco's hand on my wrist. The only things I could make out were the screams of both Yatsu and Velvet as the two of us dropped into the depths of the facility.

**=TBC=**


	30. Redbone

**「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** and I both let out a hiss as the three demonic dogs bounced at us, jaws wide open. Oh gods, it's a trap! Before they could reach me, my Stand grabbed my neck and slammed my head into the counter, pulling me away from the chaos.

My face started sinking into the surface the moment I made contact. Safe… I looked back just in time to see the three dogs collide with each other and entangle themselves in a mess. They barked and growled at each other after landing, fumbling around in a dog ball. I let out the longest sigh once I completely merged into the wooden counter. Whew, managed to get away from that ambush. That was close. Who knows what could've happened to my body if they bit me?

I slid my body under the countertop, hiding my body from view entirely. This should give me some time to think. I should be safe as long as nothing sees me. Even if those hounds managed to find me, they couldn't really hurt me. I sighed as I rubbed the side of my head. So this is an actual attack from a Stand user, huh? It feels different than fighting Gwen or dealing with Russel. The ferocity of a Stand user purposely trying to kill me is completely different than anything we fought before.

The realization finally dawned in my mind. My gods, somebody's actually trying to kill me this time around! And not just an animal like  **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」** killing in the name of self-preservation or anything like that. No, this is a sentient being who wants me dead. I clenched my fist. But who could it be? I remember Ruby telling us that there's a group of people who are looking for a certain Stand user. Could it be that they're trying to kill everybody off?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. I held my breath. Who could it be? All I can make out from my place under the counter were a set of brown dress pants and leather dress shoes. I had to restrain a groan. It's so inconvenient not being able to bend my head without appearing out from my hiding spot! Who is it?

A masculine groan escaped from the person's mouth. "Aww, gods no… she's gone. The girl just disappeared." The man threw a table on its side with a frustrated grunt, causing me to flinch. "Oh gods, the boss is gonna kill me if I don't find her! He's gonna have my head!" He moved to grab his hair, I think. "And  **「** **REDBONE!** **」** What are you doing all tangled up? What happened to the traitor?" I bit my lip. Traitor?

" _Gone hiding,_ " one of the dogs barked, finally managing to pull themselves away from the rest of the group. It looked like the biggest hound out of all of them. The pack leader, if I had to guess. " _But I can still smell her within the building. We would know if she left. She's here somewhere._ "

"I guess— That's fine. Whew, I'm still okay for the moment." He sighed and started to mumble, which I managed to pick up. "Good grief… out of all of the users in the White Fang, why did I have to be the one who can track down certain individuals?" I bit my lip again hearing that. He's White Fang? "And to have this be one of my first missions with it after that matter with all the stolen Dust…" He exhaled yet again. "So many things to do, so little time. The boss honestly doesn't make any sense. Why go after the cat faunus traitor from over a year ago? She's not important at all, she's probably going to try and stay low, there's no reason to—"

The alpha hellhound sniffed again and growled. " _She's closer than I thought. Within this room, in fact. My nose doesn't lie._ " It glanced around. " _I can't spot her, but wherever she's hiding, she can spot us from there._ " I froze hearing that, if that was even possible in my current state.

From my peripheral vision, I think I can make out the man's legs shaking. "Oh gods no… she can see all of us? Then the boss made the right call after all! If she can see you, then that means she's a Stand user. But if she's a Stand user—" He gasped. "Oh gods no! We already said too much! She's hiding somewhere within our sights, ready to strike against us! And she probably heard everything! I have to find her now! **「** **REDBONE,** **」** did she already move?"

His Stand scoffed. " _Not a bit._ "

I could make out the sounds of teeth biting against something solid. "Oh gods, what is she planning now? If we let her leave this place, I'm going to lose my head!" He took in a long breath. "But at the same time, I don't want to know what her Stand ability is. If it allowed her to hide without you being able to find it, then it has to be a very dangerous ability!" He let out a hum. "But maybe we can try smoking her out.  **「** **REDBONE,** **」** find a gas line and open it up. There should be one in this place." The hellhound growled at leaped over the counter.

The mystery man then dug his hands into his pockets, pulling out a tiny North Mistralian pistol from the Great War. It reminded me of the weapons used in Menagerie, except far more primitive. "Now, I'm sure there should be a gas stove in here. It's pretty easy to smell. Hmm…" He started for the counter. Wait a minute, this is my chance! I can take him down right here. All I have to do is wait for him to get close to me then…

He gasped in surprise the moment a dark hand appeared from under the counter, grabbing him by the lapel of his suit. Both my Stand and I appeared on top of the surface soon after, the two of us each shooting the masked man a dirty look. The White Fang assassin yelped, jerking his gun up to the image of my face. I shot out at that moment, snatching his gun hand and sliding my body past the weapon. My Stand's claws popped out. " **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS!** **」** " I yelled.

All this person could do was hold his free arm up to his face before my Stand struck. A flurry of slices danced across his body, turned his clothes into ribbons. He howled in pain as dark red streaks flashed across his arm and body, followed by the ugly hissing sound of blood spewing from his arm. The jaguar-esque Stand curled a hand into a ball. Let's end this!

"WAAAAOOUUUU!"  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** slammed her fist, striking the man square in the chin and launching him through the air. Moments later his body slammed into the wall of the restaurant, sending wooden splinters into the air. He groaned a moment later, rubbing his head as he tried standing back up. My eyes fell to the floor, glancing at the weapon he just dropped. I snatched it up in an instant and pointed it at him. One bullet. All it takes is one bullet to the face and it'll all be over. My hand started shaking.

My eyes fell to his cut sleeves. No, not yet. Every cut I made was healing up. He must've called his Stand back. And I could hear the sound of hissing from the kitchen. He must've opened up the gas line before I did that stunt.

It's not safe being here. This place might explode in a ball of flames soon, or right now if I fire the pistol. With a hiss I lowered the gun and started backing up towards the front door, keeping my eye on the man the entire time. It's best to get away and get either Ruby and Weiss before coming after him again. That's going to be the safer option.

With that plan in mind, I stepped out of the store before turning and running. Alright, all I have to do now is head back to the Unity Amphitheater, go get Ruby or Weiss and then come back and hunt this guy down. Wait a minute… My eyes widened as I looked at the street in front of me. I don't recognize this place. I know I walked through this area before with those copies of my parents, but how did I get here? How am I going to get back to the Amphitheater? Oh gods… Now I feel stupid for not paying attention while I was walking over here. Oh wait, maybe if I just call Team RWBY— no wait. Don't have my scroll on me.

I glanced back. He's bound to recover eventually, and I can't afford to stand around this place and think about what to do. I slipped the stolen gun under my vest. I'm just going to have to lose him in the crowd. I'll just run in the direction of where people are gathering. That should buy me some time until I think of a decent plan to fight against him. I leaped onto a nearby dumpster before pulling myself onto the roof of a building and running off in a random direction.

The wind whipped against my face as I bounded across the buildings. What to do, what to do… I need backup, that's for sure. That guy's Stand must be good for tracking or something. Which means no matter what, he's bound to find me again. But if I managed to get even one other person with me, we can bait him into a position where we can take care of him. I don't even need a Stand user. Just somebody who knows me and is willing to help out. But I just need to find a friend—

Wait a minute. I stopped and dropped low. Normally, that would be a good idea. Having numbers would be great. And I did promise team RWBY not to do this kind of stuff alone anymore. But there's a tiny problem: the ability of **「** **REDBONE** **」** allows it to mimic anyone I know. I don't know to what extent this Stand user can replicate a person, but he managed to make an almost perfect copy of my parents. That says a lot about how powerful his ability is. In fact, the only reason I'm here right now is that his Stand started to break down at the last moment. But even then, I didn't realize how bad it was until all of the hellhounds were at my neck! If he can replicate people that perfectly, then who can I really trust?

Just like that, everybody around me could either be a real person or a hellhound. I bit my lip. Maybe hiding in a crowd wasn't such a good idea after all. And if this guy already knows my team and where they are, he can copy them and ambush me there. It would be foolish to go back to the Amphitheater then.

A sweatdrop started sliding down my face. I'm all alone. No backup, no scroll, and no weapons aside from an old-fashioned gun that may or may not work. I took out the weapon and checked the magazine of the weapon. The gun has twelve rounds in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. I sighed. I have to go back and fight him by myself. He can easily overwhelm me without a doubt. But what choice do I have? I have a painted target on my back, and it's never going to go away until that guy goes down.

I slipped the gun back into my vest and started back for the tea shop. I never thought I would see the day I actively had to put someone down. Now that I think about it, everything I did back in the White Fang was just raids, maybe property destruction if something goes wrong. And sometimes people got hurt when they got caught in the crossfire. The first time the White Fang actively tried to target the public was the day I left. And now they stooped down so low as to assassinate people. I never had to kill people during my time with the White Fang.

And if nothing goes wrong with this plan, this will be my first premeditated kill. I would be killing one of my own kind for the sake of others. A bitter smile grew on my face. That would be pretty ironic. The daughter of a former White Fang leader murdering a White Fang member in cold blood. The same girl who left when the majority of the White Fang wanted to start killing. The roof of the tea shop started appearing back in my sight. But then again, my team won't allow any Stand user to abuse their powers for their own gain. I will be no different.

A small ring of dust flew up into the air as I landed on the ground and yanked out the pistol with a single clean action. My thumb snapped the safety off. I won't let this guy hurt me or my friends. I won't let him attack a crowd of innocent people for their own gain. We might share the heritage of our ancestors, but I won't let him destroy the peace so many lives were lost for. I won't let him punish others for the sins of their grandfathers. My heart pounded in my chest as I approached the restaurant. No amount of power should come at the cost of others. That goes both ways.

My eyes flickered back and forth around the area outside the store. Nothing. No people, no hiding spots. Not even any movement. Didn't this place have a ton of people walking around before? Where did they go now? I mean, on one hand, it means that whatever I do won't get anybody hurt. On the other hand, it's putting me on edge. Is this also part of his Stand ability? This has to be an ambush in the making. There's no way that this isn't a trap.

I pulled the gun up to my eye level, jabbing it through the door of the store. What the— I blinked. He's gone! I scanned the room. The blood splatters where he used to be was still there, and one of the tables are still flipped. But not a single sight of him. Oh gods, I let him heal up enough to escape unnoticed!

But if that's the case, that means— I snapped the gun behind me. Nobody stood there. Wait, what? Nobody's attacking me? I can feel my heart thump as dread filled my chest. He could be anywhere at this point. Maybe in the building, maybe in Vale. How in the world am I suppose to track him down? That's like trying to beat Ilia in a game of hide-and-seek! As far as I know, he could've changed clothes and taken off his mask, and I wouldn't know any better.

The gun slipped back into my vest. If I can't track him down, I can do the second best thing: make sure that he keeps his attention on me. I'll figure out a way to warn the rest of the team. I can ask someone— Wait. Let's not do that. Maybe find a terminal and call them, or maybe buy a burner scroll and call them through that— Gods, I left my lien pouch at the amphitheater as well. Past-me would be livid right now with my lack of preparedness. I had to put everything in the back pouch, did I? And to think that I never stopped to grab anything that could've been useful here.

Fine. I sighed. I'll just find a terminal then. I started walking in no direction in particular. Okay, where can I find one of those? I know for sure that the CCT Tower at Beacon has one of them for sure, but it'll take too long trying to get back. Plus, it would be a bad idea to lead a hostile White Fang member there, where he can impersonate my friends and confuse us even more. Public government buildings should have a few. But I don't know how to get to them from where I am right now. Hmm… aren't stores required to have a terminal for people to use? Maybe I should just go into a store and use that—

"Speak of the gods. I can't believe my eyes. 'Sup, Blake?" I turned around to see a familiar monkey faunus with a goofy grin on his face walking towards me. He raised his hand towards me and gave me a quick wave. "How's it going?"

"Sun?" My bow twitched seeing the boy. Why is he here? I glanced around the area for any other people. Nobody was in sight. Huh? "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at Beacon?"

He shrugged. "I was. Woke up this afternoon with a ton of energy, even after that simulation thing that happened yesterday. Even something like that won't keep me down, after all. The rest of my teammates decided to stay back, but I felt a bit antsy, so I decided to take a walk in Vale." He stretched his back as he walked towards me. "But man, did the concert end already? Where's the rest of your team? I thought they would be with you?"

"Well, the show isn't over. It didn't even start in the first place. They're still in the—" My eyes narrowed. Wait a minute. I jerked the gun out and pointed it at him.

The monkey faunus' hands shot up within an instant. He was maybe a meter away from me at this point. "Whoa! Blake, what the hell? What's with the gun—"

"Stay where you are. Make any move, and I'll shoot." The boy complied, swallowing as he eyed the barrel. I started pacing around him. "How do you know that my team was going to a concert at this time?"

"Well… you guys were gone for the whole entire day." Sun scratched his head as his face started turning red. "There was that one band having a show tonight, and I assumed that Team RWBY was going to that concert. Neptune and Scarlet were planning on going just for the laughs, but yesterday just sapped all of the energy out of them."

My eyes narrowed. Something's definitely off about this. "What's your name?"

That caused the boy to raise his eyebrows. "Huh? I'm Sun Wukong."

"Where did you come from?"

"I used to be a citizen of Vacuo, moved to Mistral."

"What are your weapons?"

"Shotgun nunchucks that can transform into a bo staff. Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang."

"If you were able to have a date with one girl in the school, who would it be?"

"You."

I flinched as the gun let out a rattle, spitting fire and launching a lead round towards the boy. The bullet slammed into his kneecaps, inverting it and sending him toppling to the ground. Despite that, the boy didn't look like he was in pain. If anything, he had a look of surprise and disbelief before it morphed into demonic fury. Good. I didn't accidentally shoot the real Sun. "Nice try,  **「** **REDBONE.** **」** "

Fangs started sprouting out of Sun's mouth as his facial structure became more canine. " _What? How did you know?_ "

"Two things." I pocketed the gun before picking up the ejected shell.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** formed behind me again, feline eyes staring at the transformed hellhound. "One: the event I was going to was an exclusive event. People had to buy an album in order to get the chance to go. And I doubt that Team SSSN would spend money to attend a concert 'just for laughs.' Two: you responded way too quickly with the last answer. The real Sun would get flustered with that question, because he's wishy-washy with his feelings toward me. He has never admitted his crush on me this brazenly before, so why do it now?"

My fingers rolled the casing in my hand. "You've made your mistakes. Now it's time for me to stop you and your user."  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** shot over to the other Stand, gripping it by the neck and jerking it up into the air. "But first, a quick question. Who is your Stand user and where is he?"

" _I won't give away Master's identity,_ " the creature hissed. A quick slice by  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** formed a set of four bloody scratches across the creature's body and face. A howl escaped the hound.

"That's okay. I can just finish off the Stand user here by beating you into submission." My eyes flickered around the area. Still nobody in sight. That's suspicious. Wasn't there at least three of these guys? Why aren't they trying to ambush me yet?

An ear-piercing howl escaped from the  **「** **REDBONE** **」** hellhound, forcing me to wince. My faunus ears flopped to the top of my head. Moments later my Stand slammed a fist into the hound's muzzle, silencing the noise and replacing it with a high pitched whimper. As much as I hate dogs, this doesn't feel good. Not one bit. But I have to keep doing it. Everybody's safety relies on me being able to stop that White Fang member from targeting all of my friends. My Stand winded her hand back for another punch.

Distant barking reached my ears from behind me. My eyes widened.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** faded away just as the other two hellhounds bit into my shoulder. I gritted my teeth. My Semblance kicked in a moment later, sending me flying to the side while a shadow of myself was body slammed by the attackers. Already it broke up into pieces as the other hellhounds bit into it. The hellhound I originally captured flopped onto the ground, already back to its original form. A whine escaped its mouth as it tried rubbing the blood off of its face.

Only one thought came to mind as I watched all three hellhounds in front of me. Run! I started making a beeline towards a nearby wall. If I get caught by **「** **REDBONE,** **」** I won't be able to fight back when the White Fang member comes around to restrain me. There's no way I can do anything before he kills me. I gritted my teeth. And to think just a couple of moments ago I made the decision to stand my ground and fight them.

But that was then, and this is now. Until I can figure out something— anything to beat this user, I have to play it safe. I dove into the wall and started scaling the building without missing a beat. There has to be something, anything about this Stand that I can exploit. I mean, these hellhounds aren't regular search dogs. Well, the demonic look is a factor, but I mean in terms of ability. There has to be some kind of pattern that I can use to my advantage. One Stand user can't possibly have three beings without having some kind of disadvantage I can take advantage of.

I reemerged back into the third dimension, pulling myself onto the rooftops and making my way in no random direction in particular. Okay, think back to every single encounter with  **「** **REDBONE** **」** so far. The first time I met two of them at once in the form of my parents. Then they took me to an empty restaurant with the cook, who was the last hellhound. The other time it was one hellhound becoming Sun, and the other two didn't even change forms. They just rushed towards me the moment I saw through the ruse and started attacking its… pack member, I suppose? And they came from all directions. I groaned. Both of these scenarios have no pattern.

Wait a minute… That's odd. I rubbed my temples. Why did only one choose to attack me instead of just using the whole pack? Considering how the hellhound was behind me, wouldn't it make sense to just strike me down? And why were the other two off in random directions? Any search dog worth their salt would remember my scent and follow me, no matter where I happened to be. So why would they split up? No pack of search dogs will ever need to split up unless—

It clicked in my head. Unless they can't detect me through my scent. If they can't find me through their scent, they would have to split up to look for me. Then they have that howl where they can call the rest of their pack to surround and take me down. But now that I think about it, it's strange. The first time they didn't howl or anything. They brought me over to a tea shop to the last one. And one of the hellhounds found me in the form of Sun, but still didn't howl. They need to fulfill some kind of condition in order to attack me. There's still no good pattern from what I know.

A groan escaped from my mouth as I jumped down from the roof and landed on the sidewalk. There are more people here for sure, but it's sparse. Enough for me to tell who's who; enough for the Stand user to hide his Stand without me noticing. I don't really know… is this more ideal than being alone? Maybe? It'll have to do for now. But it's still not obvious what I can potentially do to stop this Stand user. But I guess I just have to keep running until I figure out the weakness of **「** **REDBONE.** **」**

My ears caught the sound of several yips. The hairs on the back of my neck shot straight up. Did they find me? And they're just going to just straight up chase me in their hellhound forms instead of trying a disguise?

And why are there several barks escaping from inside the building? I thought there were only three! My breathing became ragged. Do I dare look? My head started turning, shaking all the meanwhile. I need to know for sure. But I can't— I don't— No. Stop… struggling, me. I need to know the truth. I need to act. Alright. I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

I jerked my head only to see something furry slam right into the window. A scream escaped from my mouth as I fell onto my butt. Oh gods! Look at those pointed teeth! Those sharp and uncut nails! Those tiny, beady eyes! A whimper escaped my mouth as the tiny golden retriever yipped, licking the window as it stared at me with those demonic eyes. Several other puppies noticed as well, clambering towards the window to look at me.

Conflicted feelings ran through me as my face grew warm. Oh, gods. I got scared by a bunch of puppies. I shot up and brushed myself off. I hope nobody saw that. To get spooked by a bunch of tiny dogs who aren't even close to the size of the beasts I'm going against… I shivered. I think I might be losing my nerve.

At the same time… It might be a decent hiding spot from those hellhounds. Who would suspect that I would go into a kennel? Plus, I might get some ideas on how to fight off the White Fang user. Besides the demon dogs from hell, they act like regular dogs.

But the dogs… I shot a glare at the pawing demons slobbering over the window. Why does it have to be dogs? Why couldn't they be ferrets or marsupials or hedgehogs or even snakes? No, it has to be a kennel filled with the boring pets. I sighed. I guess people just like cats and… dogs more than the more interesting types of pets.

My heart started beating faster as I approached the shelter. Come on, Blake. It shouldn't be that hard. You managed to tolerate that corgi Ruby and Yang owns, and he's… an absolute menace on the face of the earth. And Zwei has to be a young dog as well. A melodic bell chimed as I walked through the entrance. These guys right here? They're just little pups. They shouldn't be nearly as bad. Mainly because they aren't big enough to actually do anything. They aren't hellhounds, after all.

"Good evening, miss." I looked up to see some girl behind the counter giving me a polite smile. "Is there anything I can help you out with?"

"I'm just, uh— looking around." My eye turned towards the shelves of various pet items, nodding my head for a moment. "Well, actually I think you can help me." I walked over to her. "You see, my friend has a dog who has been very bad. He bites and tears things, he pounces on others without notice and nips me all the time, he barks at everything— and don't get me started on all of the barking he's done." I rubbed the side of my temples. "He barks at everyone that passes our room, he barks at night. Nobody can get any sleep, and I'm starting to feel it get to me."

"That sounds… pretty bad," the girl noted, putting a hand under her chin. "Did you try to send the dog to a trainer?"

I nodded. "We already took him to training for a couple of months now, but it seems like nothing's working." My eyes glanced down and chuckled. "I guess you can say I'm getting pretty desperate. Do you have anything that could help with that? Anything to help shape him up?"

The worker let out a hum before nodding her head. "We have a ton of training tools and discipline aids we can use to correct the behavior of your friend's dog. Typically most of this behavior can be fixed with a clicker and proper training, but considering how the problems are still there, I don't think those will work as you might wish. Well, we have some in-house trainers, and we're willing to take a look if you want to schedule an appointment. There are also some dog trainers that we know of in the city that we can contact, if you would like the help."

"Thank you, but I want to talk to my partner— friend first before committing to an idea like this. It is her dog after all."

The attendant smiled. "Of course, of course. I perfectly understand."

"But until I get the chance to have that talk, let's talk about the training tools and discipline aids." I leaned into her face, way too close for comfort. The attendant— I think her name was Azure from her name tag— leaned back as a sweatdrop slipped down her face. "Can you give me some information about that? I need it." The girl was sweating beads now. I widened my eyes, which were thankfully still bloodshot and tired from yesterday's simulation. "Please. Anything for a good night's rest."

She held her hands up, nudging me away. "Sure, I understand your position… Could you lean back a bit? You're kinda too close to me for comfort." I leaned back, letting out a sigh. "Thanks. Well, there are muzzle guards that stop the dog from barking entirely, but it's kinda inhumane to keep those on a dog for an entire night."

"He's going to bite out of it or figure out a way to rip the thing off," I groaned. Come on, please tell me where I can find something that I can actually use. I couldn't say that to her face, so I just rubbed my eyes instead. Just keep the lie straight. "That dog's surprisingly wily. I've seen him bite through his harness and slip away while my friend was walking him, so is there anything else?"

Azure scratched her head. "This is a serious problem… Hmm… We have compressed spray bottles used to distract animals from bad behavior, but I don't think anyone wants to stay up spraying him every time he barks. Electric collars offer a hands-free option, where it will shock the dog after a bark. But again, if your dog barks that often it's kinda cruel having a collar like that on all the time. This is more difficult than I imagined…" She snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah! That might work!"

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The girl goes under the counter, rummaging around for something. "Well, we got a recent shipment of these recently, but nobody's ever tried them out before. But this might be something worth trying." She slammed some wrapped package of a silver tube on the counter. My face twisted in confusion.

"A whistle?"

"A dog whistle." Azure popped back up. "When you blow on it, it creates a pitch with a frequency past the sound of human hearing. However, it can be heard clearly by an animal, like a dog. As a result, it can be used to train dogs while making sure that nobody else gets annoyed."

She did an absent-minded gesture. "The issue with dog whistles in the past was the fact that Faunus with ear traits could also hear at that frequency. As a result, the sound would annoy those particular Faunus to no end. I don't know if you know, but normal ones tend to be highly regulated due to this fact."

She pointed at the product on the counter. "This particular one was supposedly made by a small Faunus startup company. The idea is that when it's blown, it should create a sound that isn't nearly as annoying to the Faunus as before. I don't quite understand the technology behind it. Something about combining a certain whistle design with a certain Dust mixture to soften the screeching sound? But it managed to get approved by the Council, so it had to pass something."

"That's… nice." I looked up. "Don't you have regular dog whistles?"

She nodded. "We do, but we don't sell those without forcing anyone who buys one to have a permit from the Council. We also require that you sign a waiver stating that we're not responsible for any lawsuits any Faunus might want to file." Azure picks up the dog whistle on the table and waves it around. "But this type of whistle isn't regulated yet, considering how new it is. It's still okay to buy them without all of the red tape." She glanced at me. "I'm willing to sell this at a discount, if just to see if this really works. I'll throw in a guaranteed return policy if this doesn't help stop your dog from barking during the night, if you want."

I hummed as I looked at the whistle. That might work. "Thanks for the offer. I'll consider it. Can I look at it?" The attendant shrugged and handed it to me. I held it up in the air. "So you're saying that this is specially designed to make sure that Faunus aren't affected by the whistle, right?"

"Mmhm. Well, at least it won't affect them as much. I can't imagine that a sound outside of the human hearing spectrum would be pleasant to hear for any kind of Faunus. I'm pretty sure that it would still be annoying to hear. But ideally this shouldn't cause any pain for Faunus-kind."

"Okay…" I gave the whistle one more look over for any damage before I glanced at the attendant. So how much does this cost?"

Before she could answer, I heard the sound of the bell ring again. Azure held her hand up. "Sorry about that, let me take care of the customer that just came in." She looked up. "How may I help you—"

"No need, ma'am! I found something even more interesting. Heya, Blakey!" I froze in place when I heard that energetic voice. You got to be kidding me… I turned around to see Nora skipping along towards me. "It's great to see ya! I can't believe you were in this awesome pet shop!"

I bit my lip. Okay, is this guy even trying? Out of all of the people  **「** **REDBONE** **」** can impersonate, the hellhound decided that using Nora was a good idea. On one hand, it's kinda concerning that he actually knows that JNPR is a thing. Just how long has he been stalking me? Long enough to know about these guys, that's for sure. But on the other hand, is he a moron? He chose Nora, the one person who never leaves Ren's side to be here. My free hand went for my gun. This is such an obvious trick, I can just shoot  **「** **REDBONE** **」** and be done with it—

"Oh, you know this girl?" Azure asked. "Do you happen to be the dog owner with the barking problems?" My mouth dried up hearing the attendant's voice. This wasn't a mistake. This was part of his plan. Of course he must've realized Nora wouldn't leave Ren's side.

But Azure doesn't know that. And I can't just shoot a self-proclaimed friend in front of her. Not without calling attention to myself. If I shoot this obvious fake right now or even use my Stand, she's going to call the police on me, and then I would be hunted by both  **「** **REDBONE** **」** and the VPD. I might be good, but there's no way I can escape both at the same time. And even if I get captured by the VPD, the White Fang would just need to raid the prison to get me. I won't be able to get away.

My eyes narrowed at the fake that's pretending to be my friend. If I do nothing, 'Nora' is going to get me in some kind of grip and signal the other hellhounds. They will come in looking like a friend, drag me out somehow, then transform and pin me down for that White Fang user to come and kill me. Which means that I have to figure a way to weasel out of this right now—!

Before I could act, the fake Nora put me in a headlock, pressing me against her chest. "The dog owner? Ohh… you mean Yang!" She shook her head. "No, I'm just a roommate looking for Blakey here. She likes to wander around Vale, like a stray kitty, you know? And I'm going to bring her back home!" She ruffled my hair as she gave the attendant a toothy grin. A very toothy grin. Her canine was big and sharp. "Silly Blakey. You know you can't always wander around whenever you wish right? Come on, we gotta get back to our leader." I shuddered at the thought.

"I mean, if you can give me a bit more time to look through some of these training tools, I'll come with you," I whispered through gritted teeth. "Mutts shouldn't be pests, and I'm going to make sure they don't mess with me."

"Heh… Haha! That's funny! Oh, I didn't expect that from you, Blakey! Oh, come on, dogs aren't that bad! You don't need to be so grumpy!" Fake Nora's face went serious. "It's time to go back."

The bell chimed once more, revealing Jaune and Ren running into the store. "Oh my gods, there you are Blake!" Jaune sighed. The two boys started towards me. "What are you doing here? Come on, let's go back home. Everybody else is waiting for you." Whelp, it's now or never. I tore through the package and brought the whistle to my mouth despite the protests of Azure. Everybody's eyes widened as I took a deep breath and blew on it as hard as possible.

My eyes widened at the ugly squealing noise that escaped from the whistle. In an instant, I can feel my brain convulsing in pain. Holy— ow! This is loud! The cat ears under my bow twitched and tried to fold themselves in to stop the noise. It feels like it's in my head! Oh gods— All the sound in the world faded away, replaced by the demonic wail that escaped from the whistle. My hands were twitchy. I wanted nothing more to cover my ears from the noise. I wanted to end the pain now, but I kept blowing for my life.

'Nora' let go of me, allowing my body to drop to the floor. Fake Jaune and fake Ren were covering their ears as they collapsed as well. All of the puppies were wincing and covering their ears as they shrunk into a ball. My skull feels like it's going to crack… No more! I stopped blowing and spat the whistle out into my hand. Oh my gods. This was the humane version of the dog whistle? If that's the case, then what does an actual dog whistle sound like? My cat ears were still ringing, but at least the pounding in my head stopped.

Azure gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh my gods… what in the world? Why did they all collapse?"

With a heavy breath, I slapped the dog whistle back onto the counter. "I've never heard an actual dog whistle before, but I don't think this is less annoying than that." I want to check if my ears are bleeding, but at the same time, I don't really want to reveal to her that I'm a faunus. But I think the ringing is gone, so I guess there's no need to worry about tinnitus this time around. I glanced at her as I staggered up to my feet. "You might want to go into the back room and lock yourself in."

"What? Why?"

"Let's just say it's going to get a little messy in here," I sighed as all three hellhounds started morphing back to their original form. "It's for your own safety."

The woman blinked. "And what about you?"

"Don't worry, I'm a Huntress. This is what I do." I pulled out the gun as my Stand appeared behind me. "Just hurry and hide. And no matter what, do not open the door."

She nodded, making her way into the back room before slamming the door shut. I heard the click of the lock soon after. Now that she's safe, I glanced at the cameras within the store. One. I shot it off of the ceiling with a deafening bang. Two, three, four, five… One by one every camera I could find was blown to smithereens. I pointed the gun at the last camera and blew it off of its hinges. And six. Yeah, this is going to look bad on me, but Beacon should cover for it. The last thing we need right now is anybody else figuring out that there are Stands in the world.

I dove into the floor and crawled under a nearby floor shelf. Maybe a minute later that Stand user burst through the door. "Argh, my ears! That cat… who the hell does she think she is? I'll crush her for doing this—" A gasp escaped from his direction as he approached the floor shelf I'm under. "What the—  **「** **REDBONE!** **」** Where's the target?"

" _In the building for sure,_ " the alpha noted. The rest of the hellhounds stood up and shook themselves off, occasionally brushing their ear. " _We managed to lose her when she blew the dog whistle. But we do know her ability now. She can merge into flat surfaces. That's how she can escape from our sight while we can still smell her._ "

He tsked. "Great. Just great. So she could be hiding behind anything and I wouldn't be the wiser?" The man sighed. "What a terrible day. Can't poor Perry get a break? First I get clawed at. Then I get choked and punched indirectly. After that, the girl probably burst my eardrums using that dog whistle. And now I'm probably going to get shot? And for what, to wrap a catgirl in a bowtie as a present to the boss?" I brought one of my arms out from the floor, pressing it against the bottom of the shelf.

He stomped his foot on the ground. "I refuse! No more! I'm sick of this cat and mouse game, and I'm sick of worrying about keeping my head!  **「** **REDBONE,** **」** get close to me! We're going to search for her the old-fashioned way—"

I pushed hard, sending the shelf toppling over. A grunt and curse escaped the man's mouth as the metal object slammed into him. I pulled my torso out from the ground a second later, firing two rounds at his face. The first one slammed into his side, a spray of blood escaping from the hole made. One of the hounds jumped in a moment later, spitting a rubber dog toy in the path of the second bullet. The two projectiles slammed into each other and bounced away, leaving the user untouched.

A wave of pain swam through my free arm as I was ripped from the ground and back into the third dimension. What the— I looked up to see the other two hellhounds gnawing at my arm, jerking the limb around. Several streams of blood coated my pale skin with crimson. Oh gods!  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** flew over and jammed her fingers into their eye sockets, causing both of them to howl in agony before letting go. I let myself sink into the ground and crawled away from the hounds and under one of the shelves pressed against the wall.

My face winced as I pulled my 2D image onto the wall itself. Ow… I slid the gun into my vest and pressed against my bleeding wounds. There were way too many puncture wounds in my skin, and blood still flowed out regularly. Not good. I gotta get out of here and find a place to heal up. I can already feel myself getting lightheaded. I started towards the back exit.

"Oh gods, where is she now?" I could make out the sounds of crashing. "She's gotta be here somewhere! Nonono! I am not going to lose my head for failing!" I grimaced as the sounds of destruction came close. "Oh gods, what is the White Fang going to do to me? If this girl gets away, she's going to destroy months of preparation! Our attack's going to be ruined— Wait a minute. What's this?" The destruction stopped. "This is clearly a blood trail… and it leads right here!"

I jerked up as one of the shelves I passed was ripped away from the wall. The blood! I'm making a bloody trail! "Gotcha! I can just follow this to her!" I doubled my efforts to reach the exit. Come on! I'm so close to the exit! I have to get out of here! All of the shelves started collapsing, each one coming ever so closer to me. The door's right there, I just need to slip through—

A gasp escaped my mouth as I pulled myself through the crack in the door. I faced a dirty narrow alleyway full of graffiti on the walls. The area was dark, one of the few places where the sun doesn't shine. Several wide dumpsters were pressed against the walls. Some of the trash didn't even make it into the bin itself, instead being scattered around in a messy circle. There's barely enough room for a garbage truck to come through and pick up the trash. I wrinkled my nose when I took a whiff. Smells like a dump as well.

It was in this place where I pulled myself out from the wall.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** disappeared from my sights. I winced as my flesh started pulling itself back together, my Aura working overtime to heal up the punctured flesh. Let me think… I have maybe four bullets left in the gun. This White Fang person is going to find himself outside soon. He's most likely prepared a defense for when I shoot him, most likely in the form of using his dogs to take the shots for him. He will eventually catch me if I don't end him right now. The only option that will give me my best chance at ending the fight now is some kind of trap. But what kind of trap can I set up in less than a minute?

My eyes were drawn towards a nearby dumpster, a couple of meters away from the exit I just went through. Maybe… is it possible to drag items into the second dimension? I narrowed my eyes. I'm pretty sure I did it some time ago… But then again, didn't the gun also merge into the surface with me? It might be possible.

The sounds of crashing came closer. Well, I'm about to find out. I slammed my hands against the object and started pushing it. Sweat slid down my face as the dumpster groaned, giving maybe an inch. **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** reappeared in front of me, snatching the dumpster before pushing it with ease into the wall. A gasp escaped my mouth as the brick wall rippled, swallowing the giant metal bin whole. Before I knew it, all that remained was an image of the dumpster. I guess I have my answer then. Well, I should get in the wall as well.

I dove in with ease, merging into the wall and setting myself next to the merged dumpster. No, wait… I need something to bait him into attacking. The thing is, I don't think he can touch me while I'm merged. Is it possible for me to get hurt while I'm in my 2D form? Probably if he destroyed the wall, but all he has is his dogs. We're going to get stuck in a stalemate, and he probably has the resources to break it. I need to goad him.

Instead, I pulled myself out just as the White Fang user kicked the door down. This Perry guy staggered out, his hand pressed against his blood-soaked side. A growl escaped his mouth as he spotted my form easily. "You. Do you know how much trouble you put me through?" The three **「** **REDBONE** **」** hellhounds snarled as they slinked towards me, all in a tight-knit pack. "I've been having the shivers thinking about what the boss would do to me if I fail."

He glared at me. "You've been a pest this entire time. You insist on running away, hiding under things and shooting me and making my life a living hell!" I paid no heed to him, instead watching the hellhounds approach. Come on… just a little more. "You traitor! It's no wonder the boss was paranoid that you're still around! You know too much! You've been a thorn in our side ever since the day you abandoned us! You sold us out to the enemy!" He bared his teeth at me. "It's time to take you back and make you face the consequences."

At that, the hellhounds charged. Perfect. " **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS!** **」** " I yelled. The feline Stand appeared a moment later, shoving the dumpster out of the wall and into the dogs at breakneck speeds. Their snarls were replaced with pained whimpers as the dumpster crashed into them with a loud clang. I let out a gasp as all three dogs were sent flying, smashing into a nearby wall. Wow, that was forceful. They broke off some chunks of brick. Perry gasped as well as several dents appeared on his of the dogs looked like they were in a daze. The three of them let out a symphony of whines, trying to stand up for a moment before they stumbled back down to the ground.

Before the dumpster could fly any further, my Stand snatched the side, preventing it from rolling any further. The Stand user flinched back when we met eyes. I let one edge of my mouth curve up. "Here. Catch." Both  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** and I kicked the dumpster before he could respond.

The man let out a curse as he jerked to the side in an attempt to escape the blow. It was in vain. Seconds later the heavy metal dumpster slammed into him, knocking him off of his feet and dragging his body along for the ride. That should knock him out long enough for me to shoot him. I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute… my eyes widened as I noticed the other dumpster a couple of meters behind him. What in the— Oh no—

An agonizing scream escaped his mouth a second later as the two dumpsters sandwiched the lower half of his body. I winced at the sounds of his bones being ground to dust at the impact. I think I could make out a growing pool of blood right beneath him. Maybe there was something sharp that I didn't notice that punctured his body when he made impact. This guy— he tried pulling himself out from his position, but the dumpsters won't move no matter what he does. I think I can make out streams of tears running down his face.

His **「** **REDBONE** **」** hounds faded away, leaving me and the White Fang user alone in this disgusting alleyway. I can already see his Aura crackling. No matter what happens next, he's done for. There's no way that his body can recover from being crushed into little bits. He's as good as dead. But just in case— I pulled the pistol out and counted my bullets. Three in the magazine, one in the chamber. Enough to finish him off and still have some to spare.

With that, I started approaching the man. He winced at the sight of me, doubling down on his efforts to get out. "N— No! Get away from me! Look, all I'm trying to do is follow orders! And— and plus, I gave you a choice to come with me without any fighting whatsoever!" Sweat ran down his face when he noticed that I didn't stop. "You have to understand, I didn't want any of this to happen, I'm just some regular dude who wants to make a difference in the world!"

He yanked off his mask, causing me to narrow my eyes. He's the same guy who was in front of us in the line. He continued to look at me. "Before I was just Perry, some twenty-something who slaved behind a cubicle just trying to keep my head down. I had a baby brother who got into an accident, and he died because they prioritized a human patient over his life! The establishment let him die!" He tried to stare straight into my eyes. "I'm not a cruel man, you have to believe me. I just want to make sure that no other Faunus family has to suffer like that—"

"And you decided the best way to do this was to impersonate the people I love and hold dear to my heart and try to attack me that way." I pointed the gun at him, summoning  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** behind me for insurance. "That is unforgivable. Now talk. You mentioned something earlier about an attack that took months to prepare."

"Y— You heard about that?" He winced. "I can't say a word. I won't say a word. You won't get anything out of me. We'll rip away the fake peace and show to the populace what is truly going on. We'll overthrow the establishment and give Faunus peace of mind that no one will try to ignore them. And the other Stand user will make sure that your friends are out of the way. The White Fang will bring true peace to all of us Faunus." Perry broke eye contact with me, a tear slipping down his face. "I'm so sorry, Plado. I failed you." He started muttering: "Delta, bravo, uniform—"

"Hey, what are you doing?" I pointed the gun at him. "Stop it! Tell me the name of the other Stand user!"

He ignored me. "Kilo, delta, yankee, kilo, delta, papa—"

What is going on? Why is he chanting the phonetic alphabet? "Foxtrot, victor, sierra, confirm." A mechanical chirping voice escaped from his head. My eyes widened. No way, they put a—

His head exploded a second later, sending bone shrapnel and a shower of gore directly at me. I recoiled in disgust as it washed over me. Oh gods! Oh gods, there's so much blood! I glanced up, only to gag at the stump where Perry's head used to be. Holy— He's gone. There's nothing left of him.

A light yellow wisp started slithering out from the stump. My eyes widened. Huh? What the— What is that? I stared at the smoke trail, watching it clump up as it rose into the sky. Bit by bit, more details were added to the smoke until it formed the serene face of a man who I just watched take his own life. Oh my gods… is that… Perry?

Unlike the paranoid person I knew just a couple moments ago, this Perry seemed so much calmer, happier, less on edge. The man stared at the sky, smiling at… something up there. Could it be the brother who died at the hospital? The Plado person? He never once looked down at me. Like he's above life, which he is in a sense. With a light breeze he ascended into the skies, reaching out for the clouds before they swallowed him whole.

My mouth just dropped. What was that? Is that— is that Perry's spirit? Oh my gods, is there an actual heaven up there? I've never seen anything like that before. Could it be that this is due to me being a Stand user? I grabbed my face. This… this is so much to take in. I jerked up when a small detail reappeared in my mind. Oh gods, another Stand user! That's right!

I started limping towards the pet store. I need to get myself cleaned up and I need to contact the others now. They're in danger, and I have to warn them! I need to hurry… The store should have a terminal… I just need to give them the call. I just hope Azure doesn't panic too much when I come in covered in blood.

* * *

A hum escaped my mouth as I rubbed the cross pin on my cape. It's been awhile since Blake left. Is something going on with Blake? Like did she eat something bad? This is a long time for just a bathroom break. Maybe she decided to leave and read after all— No, that's not right. I glanced at Ninjas of Love sitting in the back pouch. She doesn't have her book with her. I mean, on one hand, at least she's not leaving us. On the other hand… I'm actually a bit concerned. I glanced at the rest of my team. Yang was scrolling through her device, while Weiss had her mouth slightly ajar while she took a nap.

"Hey guys," I whispered to my partner and sister. Yang turned towards me normally, while Weiss snapped up, letting out a tired yawn before glancing at me. I let out a hum. "Well, so Blake's been gone for some time now. Do you think that she's okay?"

My partner shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe she decided to leave and read somewhere else."

I pointed at Blake's novel. "She didn't take her book, and I've never seen her carry more than one. Plus, all of her stuff's here."

Yang shrugged. "Hmm… now that you mention it, I don't think it should take that long to go find a restroom and use it. Maybe we should go check on her. But at the same time…" My sister glanced at her scroll. "The main event is going to start soon. I don't really want to miss these guys when they come out!"

"I'll go then," Weiss sighed as she got up. "I kinda have to go use the restroom too, now that I think about it."

My sister nodded. "Thanks, Weiss. You're a lifesaver." Yang snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah, you should take Blake's earplugs with you. Show's going to start soon, and we don't want poor Blakey to lose her hearing when she comes back, do we?"

Weiss let out another yawn. "Right." And with that, my partner quickly snatched the foam pieces and left. I leaned back into my seat and hummed. That's weird. Why would Blake just up and disappear like that? And not just that. She left all of her stuff here. Even for her it's pretty strange—

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The voice from the PA caused everyone in the amphitheater to roar. "The moment is here! Let's get this show on the road!"

The blonde girl cheered along with the rest of them. "Ooh! Ooh! The performance is starting! Gods, I can't believe I'm finally going to see these guys in person! This is going to be amazing!" I let out a laugh. It's not every day where Yang beats me in sheer energy and giddiness. Oh yeah, earplugs, that's right! I fumbled for them and shoved them into my ears. Yang in her excitement remembered to do that as well.

Everything went dark, before several spotlights appeared on the back curtain of the stage. Before there was nobody standing on the stage. Now six guys stood around, posing as smoke spilled across the stage. The spotlights above were moving all around the stage, never quite illuminating the men. "Good evening to you Vale!" one of the men spoke. He held his hands out to his ears as the crowd went bonkers. "Love the energy tonight! You guys better keep it going, because this is one experience that you guys don't want to miss!" The man pointed a finger at one of his band members. "Sound off!"

"G. Free!" Synth noises escaped from a man playing the keyboard.

"M. Fyre!" A wicked drum solo sounded off a second later.

"J. Prince!" I could make out the gentle yet firm sounds of the electric bass being played.

"Little J.!" He played a romantic tune from some kind of electric guitar. Huh. I didn't know that was even possible.

"R. Spaaace!" The man in question let his name stretch out, showing off his vocal skills in their full glory.

"And R. Lazer here!" The lights shot towards all six men, revealing them in all of their glory. R. Lazer gave the crowd a confident smile. "We're the Achieve Men, and we've kept you all waiting long enough! Alright guys… one, two, three, hit it!"

The music started playing, their opening being their popular romantic cover of  _Diamond_   _Eyes,_ but something felt… off. I frowned. Something's different about how they play live. Not like the tone's wrong or something. The exciting passionate feeling is still there. But it's like… hearing the song itself. For some reason, the music feels more… filling, like I... like I can hear it in my head as well as my ears. It's so… soothing. My eyes started drooping. Despite the energy of their opening song, I feel even more sleepy than ever. Every single note felt perfect, resonating within me. So why do I feel so…?

Yang collapsed next to me. What in the— My eyes rolled into my head as I collapsed as well. I thought I felt something vibrate close to my leg. What could it be? The last thing I can remember was staring into the overly dilated eyes of my sister before I blacked out for the second time in two days.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = March 2, 2018**

* * *

**Fox's Bizarre Adventure - Act 2**

Normally people would panic at the thought of falling several floors into darkness. Doubly so if they happen to be blind. But when you think about it, the fall isn't as bad as people make them out to be. A fall from a couple of stories isn't that big of a deal, at least for Huntsmen. With Aura and a proper landing strategy, anyone in our profession can survive falls like that without a parachute.

There was just one problem with the situation Coco and I faced, though. Landing strategies rely on us knowing where the ground is in the first place. There's a reason why most Huntsmen tend to just use rope or something similar when they ever have to descend into a dark place. The landing strategy was not just to avoid getting hurt from high falls; it's also supposed to minimize the pain we have to go through when we slam into the ground. Aura can only do so much for the pain, and falling from several stories without a landing strategy is extremely painful. And well, the odds of a blind guy and a girl wearing sunglasses making it out okay was pretty low.

I snatched Coco's other hand and spread my body as wide as possible, catching some air in the process. But what kind of Huntsmen would I be if I didn't know how to deal with situations like this? **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** appeared in front of me. Almost immediately I can feel more air slamming into us as the molecules around us vibrated like crazy, slowing down our falling speed. My eyebrows wrinkled as I gazed into my mental image. Come on… where's the ground? This fall can't possibly be that long— There!

My guardian spirit shot off, slamming both forks into the concrete before disappearing. And like that it shattered, crumbling into pieces and forming an almost gravel-like pool. Moments later I felt the rocks envelop the both of us, sending a cloud of dust into my lungs. It felt like a bed full of nails slammed into the front side of my body as my Aura flared to take the blow. Ugh… I gritted my teeth. Gods, that doesn't feel good. Well, there's one good thing about this. At least I'm not limping or something I groaned. It might not be the neatest solution out there, but if it stops us from being hurt from the fall, it's good enough for me.

"Coco," I coughed as I sat up on the rubble. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I could make out the other figure adjusting her weight on the gravel bed. She let out a gasp just a moment later. "Oh gods, it's so dark. I can't see. Where's my scroll?" I heard her patting herself down before patting down the area around her. "Nonono, there's no way it can be gone! It was attached to me just a while ago! There's no way I'm going through this place without any kind of light!" She twisted towards me. "Fox, can you see it?"

A smirk grew on my face. "I would if I could." I waved my hand in front of me. "Can't see anything, remember?"

"You know exactly what I mean!"

"Mmhm, I do. Start patting a little louder, would you?" My mental image cleared up a bit as she started slapping the ground. "Thanks." I focused myself. It should just be a rectangular thing. It's unlikely that the thing would fly off to who knows where. After all, I didn't feel Coco smash into anything while we were falling down into the hole. So it has to be somewhere within the area. I can make out lab equipment, several old trinkets, giant boxes, something similar to swiveling whiteboards, the rubble around us. But try as I might, I can't make out a scroll within all of the clutter.

"What in the world?" I furrowed my eyebrows. Come on, where in the world is it? It's like it disappeared or something. Maybe it shattered when we landed? No, not likely. I would know if that was the case. It has to be here somewhere.

"Hey Fox?" Coco asked. "Find anything yet? Really not liking not being able to see right now."

"Sorry, can't find it. It's almost like it just disappeared." I could hear her breath hitch. "Don't panic, I still have my scroll on me." I dug the device out of my pockets and held it out. "Just use mine for now until we can actually find yours."

"Whew, thanks Fox." She went silent for awhile. "Uh, Fox? I still can't see anything."

"Hmm? Oh, right. Plexi, turn on flashlight."

" **FLASHLIGHT ON.** " Coco let out a sound between a hiss and a groan moments later. "Ah! Gods, that was pointing at me—" I heard a groan escape from her, followed by the sound of rustling clothing. "Wow, that's bright. That thing nearly blinded me, and I have sunglasses on!" The sound of footsteps came closer to me before a hand plopped on my shoulder. "Fox, why in the world do you have your flashlight intensity up so high?"

"Why would I ever need a flashlight? I'm blind." I held my scroll in the direction of Coco's voice. "Besides, why do you have your sunglasses on inside an underground bunker?"

"… I should be really angry at you right now." Moments later I felt my scroll being lifted out of my hands. "But I also really want to see. I'm going to get even with you once we get back to the surface." My team leader let out a hum. "I wonder if foot rubs and massages will get you off of the hook."

Another smirk grew on my face. "Aren't you supposed to owe me after this favor?"

"I'm also the team leader, so I call all of the shots. I don't owe you squat." I heard tapping noises. "How in the world do you turn the intensity down?"

I didn't say a word, instead pursing my lips as my mind went back to Coco's missing scroll. How could something like that just… disappear? There's no way something like that could disappear just like that. Could it be a Grimm creature that no one can see? No… if that was the case, they should've at least made enough noise to catch my attention. But that's not even close to what happened. I narrowed my eyes. It's very odd.

"Hey Coco," I started. "What do you see around you?"

"Hmm… Well, there's a bunch of old lab equipment, like what you would find in a stereotypical lab. It's not nearly as cramped as I expected it to be, but I can feel my claustrophobia eating at me. By gods, how do people work in these conditions? I mean, I get that it's supposed to be an underground lab, but still. Just how in the— Oh, there's my scroll."

She started to walk off, roughly around a meter to my right. "Wow, you can't believe this, Fox. Turns out it fell into a groove that is almost the same size and shape of the scroll. One hell of a coincidence, that's for sure. No wonder you didn't notice it when you were checking with your Semblance. It must've looked like a loose tile or something." I let out a hum hearing that. Huh. Was it really? I mean, it didn't sound like the worst theory out there. It is possible that something like that would happen. Well, mistakes like that could happen. Just because I can 'see' using my ears doesn't mean that I can't identify everything correctly.

"What the— My scroll just flipped out of the hole." That got my attention. Huh?

I clicked my tongue. "Say that again? Did you just say that your scroll flipped itself out of a hole?"

Coco let out a hum of confirmation. "It did. That's so weird. I'm pretty sure scrolls aren't supposed to do that last time I checked. But then again, it shouldn't matter too much. I'll just pick it up again— Agh!" What the— My head shot towards her location just to catch her toffee brown Aura jerk away from the ground. "The scroll moved!" Coco's Aura outline extended its finger. "Holy— the scroll's moving on its own, Fox!"

I let out a grunt as I focused on the outline of the scroll on the ground. What in the— It was! The device was sliding across the ground. But that's not the main thing that I'm concerned about. No, that would have to go to the fact that there's Aura in the shape of a thorny vine wrapped around it as it was being dragged around. There's no way… Yet there's no doubt about it. There's a third person in here with us. But that can't be possible, this place was abandoned for years! And I didn't detect anything that was like opened cans of food or anything. This can't be some homeless user with a guardian spirit of their own. Who would be in here?

"Step back and don't touch your scroll." Coco let out a confused hum, but still nodded and took a couple of steps away. "Someone or something is using their Semblance or something to move it around."  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** appeared behind me. "I think that somebody's close to us, but I can't tell where they are at the moment."

"Well, why not use your Semblance and Aura senses to find the person?"

"I am right now. The person doing this isn't in the room at the moment, and the strand of Aura leads out of the laboratory." My head twisted around, trying to follow where the strand is going.

"And as far as we know, we're actually going in blind. No pun intended." Coco let out a groan. I ignored her. "We have absolutely no idea about whether or not this person is friendly, we can't use Dust rounds unless we want to risk turning this place into our tomb." Wait a minute… why am I suddenly sensing so many Aura strands? I let out a gasp when I turned my head upwards. The walls… all of them are forming the weird thorns. Who in the world is doing this?

I flinched as moments later I heard several glass objects shatter, followed by a yelp from Coco. "Fox, the glass! Somebody's shattering the glass from afar!" I glanced at one of the side counters. What the— Several of the thorns were curled around something round. Most likely the test tubes in the room. I felt a bead of sweat slip down my neck. Okay, something is definitely not right here. Just what kind of spirit are we going against? From the sounds of it, this person managed to shatter dozens of tubes across the counter at once.

No more thinking. We need to know where the guy is right now!  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** slammed one of its tuning forks into the ground, sharpening the outline of the room in my head. Then it did it again. And again. I can feel a migraine building up as the outline grew past the room we're in. Come on, the person has to be here somewhere. But by gods, if this person managed to have a guardian spirit that can easily go hundreds of meters away, I am not going to be pleased. Where is that person?

And then, a lucky break. The thorny vines disappeared, pulling back towards a figure in the room next to us. Found him. I started towards the figure. From a rough glance, the person was a giant of a man, with muscles that would put a bodybuilder to shame. At the moment he was kneeling down. I wonder why? That's okay, though. If he's not moving, then it'll be easier to take him out. Just bash through the wall and hold him hostage. Something's nagging me in the back of my head, though. Why didn't he appear when I was using my echolocation? He's a big man, so it's weird that he never came up—

I jerked back as he shot up to his feet. What the— I gotta smash through the wall now!  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** twisted its tuning fork hand to the side, ready to karate chop the concrete in front of us. However, before I could react, he turned around and did the impossible.

His Aura walked into and phased through the wall. It was like it never existed. A sweat broke down my face. Don't think, just act. "Coco! Shine the light this way! Somebody's coming!"

"Wha— huh? There's no one there! I don't see anybody!" My eyes widened. No… That's impossible! My mind went back to the days when I had to fight for my life. Many users were beaten to beyond recognition. Most of them managed to make it to a hospital before they breathed their last. But some of them… their bodies couldn't take the damage. And every time I watched a user stop breathing, I could see what's left of them drift up to the sky. Their souls, I suppose. I never thought for a moment a soul can still stick around after their time has come… But if I'm right…

The ghostly man stuck out two fingers as he gave me what looked to be a quick salute. A deep, booming voice escaped from him. "Hello."

**=TBC=**

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand Description:
> 
> 「REDBONE」- Has a pack of three mutated hellhounds. All three hellhounds are able to morph and take on the exact identity of a person the victim is close to relationship-wise. The pack needs one hellhound to touch the victim in order to create a beacon for the user and the rest of the pack to follow.


	31. Hocus Pocus - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER DEPICTS SEXUAL ASSAULT AND MAY BE CONSIDERED DISTURBING TO SOME. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.~~

When I heard I was going to a concert that I didn't have to perform in, I was actually a little excited for once. After so many years of performing for the Atlesian elite, it's a breath of fresh air getting to see what it's like to watch a concert like a normal person. No need to worry about performing, no need to think about the consequences of messing up and humiliating my dad. No worrying about the reputation of the Schnee family name. Just a show intended to entertain a normal audience. It's something that I didn't even know I wanted to see.

Which is why my search for Blake was starting to get on my nerves. I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Blake? Blake, where are you?" I let out a sigh as I continued to walk through the empty hallway. Where in the world could that girl be? It's already bad enough that she forgot all her stuff in the stadium. But now it's like she's disappeared. "Come on, everybody's waiting for you. The show must've started already." Still no response. I shook my head. This is ridiculous. On the day where we were supposed to have the time of our lives, I'm dealing with a runaway Blake. Just like the end of our first semester.

I sighed. I can't believe that Blake would do this again. Couldn't she at least pretend to care this time around? She even made the promise! It's such a simple thing, and she let her own thoughts get the better of her.

And what is with this amphitheater? It's like a maze! I can't figure out where I am! I sighed again. What a pain. I swear, if I search through every bathroom in this building and Blake isn't there, I'm going to scold her until all of her ears fall off! But until then, there's nothing I can do except check every room one at a time.

My fingertips rubbed against my temples. Gods… This is such a chore dealing with Blake. I hope Ruby and Yang are having more fun than I am.

* * *

" _Ruby,_ " Mom whispered in my ear. " _Wake up._ "

"Ugh…" The first thing I noticed when I came to was the musk in the air. It felt heavy, like the sky fell down on top of me and was slowly squeezing the life out of my body. There's something about the air that felt… unclean, unnatural. Like the smoke byproduct of activated red Dust, or maybe like my living room after my family had been sweating in it on a hot summer afternoon. Actually, the feeling is more subtle. There's no way for me to describe it, just that it feels… wrong.

My eyelids managed to crack open. I gasped a second later, my eyes widening as I stared into a neon pink sky. What happened to the ceiling? It's gone! I jerked myself up. My jaw dropped. No, not just that. Everything's gone! The chairs, the stadium, the people. It just… stopped existing. It's like I never was at the Unity Amphitheater!

But where am I exactly? I glanced at the area around me. I was currently resting on a patch of grass in what looked like a plaza. The plaza itself wasn't really different from something you might find within a park. Then there were several buildings that reminded me of the old civilian colleges that the rich kids would go to for their education. You know, the ones with buildings made back when Vale was still a young Kingdom. Their rough, stone look made everything feel refined and old.

But what's weirder was how these buildings were placed. For example, some of them were upside down, balancing on a few spires. Then some of them were in the air without any kind of support or anti-gravity engines. Weird-looking stairs would connect the floating buildings to the ground. They would curve in wild patterns, forming loops, corkscrews, and upside down-ys like a roller coaster. It shouldn't be able to hold itself up on anyway, but somehow it just does. It reminds me of that children's book author who wrote about a cat with a top hat and a tree man-thing talking about not cutting down the Forever Falls. It's that kind of abstract.

One of the buildings started flickering, phasing out for a split second before becoming solid again. I blinked. What the— is it just me, or did that building just glitch out? A hiss escaped my mouth a second later when the grass underneath my hands glitched a second later, sending a jolt through the palm of my hand. Ow! I pulled myself up. Okay, that is not normal. I'm definitely not in the Unity Amphitheater. The sky shouldn't be neon pink. Life doesn't just— just glitch out.

We've been transported somewhere. I swallowed. Oh gods, we've been transported somewhere. There's no other explanation; this has to be the work of an enemy Stand. Rose appeared in front of me, arms up for any attack that could come.

What could this place be? Am I in a mind palace like with Neo and her  **「** **CORNERSTONE?** **」** But last time I checked, she was staying in hiding with Roman. They should've gotten their quiet life like they've always wanted. Did the two have to bring themselves back into the open again? Why would she attack an entire stadium this time around?

I glanced around. No, something's different this time. I had to enter the mind palace by entering through a door. But I got teleported here without me activating it. Then Neo had an actual house filled with memory-linked items. This place looks like an empty college campus. Nothing but people and buildings lying around a plaza. Unless Neo's Stand somehow evolved or something like that, there's no way that this could be her doing—

Wait a minute. There are people in here with me right now? I did a double take. Dozens of people were pulling themselves up right now, groaning and rubbing their heads. Fear shot through my heart once it sank in. There are people in here with me. And I think I recognize a couple of them. Not by name, though: I've seen their faces at the concert. So I'm not the only person affected by whatever the Stand is? But that means— Oh gods. The Stand user just attacked an entire audience. It's a large-scale attack.

We should've seen it coming. Everybody dreaded for this day to happen, and it finally has. A Stand user attacked a big part of the population. If that's the case, then I need to find Weiss and Blake and— Yang! My hands covered my mouth as I gasped. I need to find Yang as soon as possible! The rest of Team RWBY can use their Stands to protect themselves, but Yang's completely defenseless in this world! No amount of hand to hand combat experience is going to hurt a Stand!

I started running towards the closest group I could see. Come on, where's Yang? She's gotta be here somewhere! I gasped. Now that I think about it, this place is a lot bigger than the mind palace. That means she could be anywhere on this whole campus! Rose disappeared as my Semblance started kicking in. My eyes flickered between every person here. Come on, where is she? I can't find her in the plaza! But that means that she's in one of the buildings, and who knows which one? I gritted my teeth, redirecting myself towards a big cluster of those buildings. I don't have much of a choice, do I?

After rushing through the streets and glancing at each building there, I skidded to a halt and stopped in front of one glass building maybe six stories high. Huh, that's… different. It really stuck out from the ancient-looking architecture around me. And I thought I spotted someone next to the glass. I glanced up. Up on the third or fourth story was a familiar head of long, blonde hair waving around, like she's talking to someone. My eyes widened before I cupped my mouth. "Yang!"

Yang turned around and pressed her face to the glass. I could make out her mouth moving, but I can't tell what she's saying. "Yang, just stay there, okay? I'll use my Semblance to come up and get to you! Don't worry, I'll get us out of here!"

Before she could respond, I ran into the building. The first thing that caught my attention was the architecture. Instead of the sleek, modern feel I expected from the exterior, there was a more worn yet sophisticated look. It's more like what I expected from an old prestigious, university, like the older-looking buildings I passed by earlier. Everything inside was made out of some fancy colored wood, and all of the fabric was blue and yellow. The room's ceiling was also really high up, towering two stories or so. It reminded me more of a mansion entrance rather than a lobby.

I furrowed my eyebrows. That doesn't look right. Something like that should take up multiple floors, but it's unnoticeable from the outside. Maybe it's like that time-traveling terminal booth from that one show: way bigger on the inside than the outside. Must be a quirk of this Stand.

There was a surprising lack of light for something with a glass wall. There wasn't any kind of light source inside the building, aside from the windows and the burning candles, and the light from each of those sources didn't spread far. The neon pink glow makes this place look eerie, and the candles lining the room didn't do much to help with that.

Then there were the cobwebs and heavy layers of dust that rested on everything in the room. I know there have to be people within this building. I saw Yang from outside! But the fact that nothing looks touched here makes this place feel abandoned and hollow. It's like standing in a haunted mansion. I shivered. Something's wrong with this building. And not just the glitching or how everything seems to make no sense. No, there's an eerie feeling about the place, something wrong. I can feel goosebumps run down my skin.

But I can't worry about that now. I have to find a way up to Yang! My eyes surveyed the room as I walked through it. Okay, so when I was outside it looked like Yang was on either the third or fourth floor. If I can find a stairway or an elevator or even a map of the building layout, I can make my way up to my sister. Then, from there, we can find Weiss and Blake then round up the rest of the civilians. All while we're figuring out what to do to get out of this place. A drop of sweat slipped down my face. There has to be something more about this place than just the glitchiness. This can't be it.

Whatever's going on, I do not want to be around to find out. There are only three people in this building with Stand powers. Three people to protect maybe hundreds of civilians against whatever this Stand can do. We don't nearly have enough users to both protect the crowd and find a way to break out. The scale of this attack is huge. Who knows how bad this could get? I hope I can gather everyone fast enough so that I never have to know.

My eyes brightened up as I spotted a set of three elevator doors. Yes! Found it! I slammed my hand against the 'up' button. Now just to wait for the elevator to come to me, and I'll find Yang in no time! I let out a questioning hum. But where could Weiss and Blake be? My partner should still be in the building, and Blake should still be there as well if she didn't decide to weasel out of the concert. They should be affected by this as much as everyone else.

But now that I think about it… I never really figured out the range of this Stand attack. Just how far  _is_  the range on this particular Stand? It's enough to affect an entire amphitheater, that's for sure. Plus, I don't know what the trigger is yet. What caused everyone to be transported to this place? I know for sure it must've happened right after the Achieve Men went onstage and started singing their first song. I started feeling drowsy then. So something must have happened during their first song to cause this situation.

Wait a minute, does that mean the Achieve Men are Stand users? I wrinkled my eyebrows. No, that shouldn't be possible. One Stand for one person, from what I've seen so far. If all of the Achieve Men were Stand users, then we should be seeing five different Stand abilities. And everything around me looks like it was done by only one person. And how likely is it that five people can share the same Stand? No, I definitely think this attack is from a single person.

But now that poses a different question: who's the Stand user? There's like five different potential candidates! And that's not counting the crowd or even animals that could've been viable users. After seeing  **「** **DOWN UNDER,** **」** I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be something like a flea Stand user or even a non-living user!

The elevator chimed, bringing me out of my thoughts and back into the present. Stand users will find other Stand users. Something tells me I'll just end up running into them eventually. My main priority should be to make sure that nobody else is attacked or killed by the Stand. Survival over figuring out how to escape. The Headmaster has helped us so much by keeping all these incidents secret, but Beacon can only do so much if so many people die. People will get scared, and whoever's doing this will get closer to ending the world! That can't happen.

Another chime escaped the elevator. That burden makes it even more important that I find the rest of my team as soon as possible. I started towards the doors as they opened up. We can figure something out, but not until we're all back together—

I stopped in my tracks, my eyes widening as I stared at the silhouette of some kind of… thing in the cabin. More specifically of its back. I couldn't make out what it was, exactly, it was too dark inside the elevator. For sure, though, I knew that whatever it was had a humanoid shape. The creature was in a fetal position and hadn't moved an inch since the doors opened. The person was cradling their head, like he or she was trying to comfort themselves. It was large and beefy, almost like a bodybuilder. I can make out every muscle on him, even from the darkness. That's strange… It's almost like he's naked—

I blushed. Oh my gods, could this guy really—? What? Why?

All of a sudden the guy jerked up to a standing position. Holy— I stepped back. Now with his head uncovered, I noticed how there was some kind of crown-hat… thing on his head. His breaths started getting heavy and aggressive. He stood up, proving to me that he was completely nude. Thankfully I don't see his… his thing, but still. Rose appeared next to me, fists raised up and ready for any kind of fight. I think this might be the Stand. I glanced around. Alright, I might need to change my plan.

Looking at the Stand right now, I think it's a better idea for me to take it on and finish it off as soon as possible. The sooner I can finish this guy off and free everyone else, the less likely someone's going to get hurt. And if he's the only Stand in the area, nobody else should be hurt by this. Rose floated in front of me. Well, all I have to do at this point is just figure out what it can do and we'll be done in no time—

The man glitched out, disappearing from the elevator entirely. At the same time, all of the candles went out, leaving me in the dark.

What the— I glanced around the room. I can see just enough to make out the shapes around me. Where did he go? A low, predatory hiss sounded off from behind me. I twisted myself at a moment's notice, getting Rose to swing a fist at the sound only to catch nothing but air. The creature itself was a few meters farther away from me, still with its back towards me. Huh? How did it get over there while I was looking at it? That shouldn't be possible.

My gut twisted again when I saw another figure, this time female, stand up. I couldn't tell in the darkness, but she looked naked as well, aside from a crown hat like the one the guy was wearing. Okay… so maybe there are more than I thought there would be. But I can still handle two monsters. I just have to play it safe. Be more cautious—

The rest of the elevators chimed, their doors opening. I looked behind me and gasped. There was another one of those naked crown monsters in each cabin, bringing the count up to five. My breath hitched. I'm not liking my odds anymore. Five of these things and I don't know what they're capable of? Maybe I should go back to my old plan of finding everyone before fighting back. Something tells me that they might overwhelm me before I figure out what they can really do.

Then they turned around. The worry in my chest just turned into dread. All of them stared at me with glowing blue eyes— Three sets of female eyes and two sets of male eyes. But that wasn't what made it creepy. It was  _how_  they stared at me. All five of them seemed like they were leering at me. Like they were starving lions, and I was a slab of meat that just got thrown into their habitat. Hell, I thought I could make out one of them licking their lips with a very long tongue.

All of them started breathing harder, letting out a bassy growl. In my head, all of my alarms are ringing. This is out of my league. I'm going to lose this fight if I try to take them on. I— I'm going to—

Then they did the strangest thing that filled me with both confusion and dread: they began thrusting their hips towards me, the rest of their bodies being pulled with the motion.

Nope. No, just… nope. Rose disappeared before I broke out into a sprint. Not getting into that. I've seen enough from Blake's "romance" books to know what happens next. I'm only fifteen, for god's sake! But something about these monsters made me think they wouldn't care. Ew, that just feels so, so wrong on so many levels. What kind of filthy place did everyone end up in?

Sensual moans emitted from the creatures behind me, followed by the sounds of bare feet slamming against the ground. Oh gods, they're chasing after me! I need to find a stairway or something, now! Something, anything! I ran up to the nearest door and started jiggling the door handle. It refused to budge. I sprinted towards the next one and tried it as well. Nothing. I could feel nervousness swell up in my throat. Are all of these doors locked? The only way up is to use the elevator? No, that can't be true! One of these doors has to open up!

This can't be happening. I slammed my back against the wall. All five of the creatures were still charging after me, crotches swinging to and fro. The rest of their bodies flailed around, trailing behind and flopping around. Somehow their ridiculous run made this situation seem even scarier than it already was. Like they were feral beasts willing to do anything to satisfy themselves. I gulped as they made a beeline towards me. No! This is not how it's going to end!

I raised my right hand up. My Stand appeared in front of me a moment later, swinging a karate chop and slicing it clean off. Several seams formed on the palm of my decapitated hand. In a blink of an eye, rose petals formed within the seams, splitting each segment into ten separate, cleanly cut pieces. They all flattened and became sharper as Rose caught them all in one hand, watching as each took on the shape of a basic double-edged knife. Ten daggers, five targets. My Stand took one by the blade and pulled back for a throw. It shouldn't be too bad.

One of the monsters howled as a throwing dagger dug into its thigh a moment later, sending him tumbling to the ground with a groan. Not much blood came from the wound, surprisingly enough. But despite the growls and moans the injured monster sent towards me, it couldn't get back up, collapsing just before it could push itself up to a standing position. My Stand immediately snatched another hand knife and prepped it. Four more to take care of. The next two knives also hit their mark, sending two of the female monsters sprawling to the ground.

The last two were more persistent. After seeing the others fall, the two of them started to adopt an even more erratic running pattern, zigzagging to prevent Rose from getting a solid bead on them. All while they continued to pick up speed. I gritted my teeth as Rose missed the next three knives, all three sticking in the elevator door. Four more knives left. I need to make these count. Gods, if only I brought Crescent Rose with me. As great as these throwing knives are, they can only move so fast. There's no way Rose can lead the shot if the knife is slow enough to dodge! I need a gun!

Wait a minute… why couldn't I make bullets? I could maybe take my toes and reform them into ball bearings that I can fire with Rose. Jaune does it almost all the time with his own Stand. Why not use it for me— One of the monsters groaned as he thrusted towards me. Oh gods! I threw myself to the side, thankfully avoiding his lewd move. Rose reacted immediately, dropping the knives next to me while landing a solid punch. The creature roared as it flew across the room.

As for me, I snatched a knife made out of my index finger and jammed it into the wooden floor. I pushed off of it a moment later, narrowly avoiding the belly flop of the remaining female monster. "Rose!" My Stand complied, snatching the grounded monster's head and slammed her into the wall, throwing a flurry of punches into the woman's back. I let out a yell as familiar craters rippled against her skin. The wall itself started to fragment due to the sheer amount of punches. I'll end this now! This'll free everyone from this world!

One final roar escaped Rose's mouth as she threw the woman across the room. The monster slammed into the reception desk before lying still. I let out a gasp before I stood back up. Is that all of them? I glanced at all of the individuals lying on the floor, either in pain or in the case of the last woman, straight up unconscious. That was a little scary, I have to admit. But I managed to get out of there just fine. Alright, then. I raised my stumpy right arm up. Let's just recall my hand back to me, then everything will be fine— Wait a minute. My eyes narrowed as I counted up the bodies. One, two, three… four. Where's the last one?

From across the room, I spotted one of the male monsters get back up. Wait a minute, how did he get— Oh! Wasn't that the guy I launched across the room earlier? I never really stopped him, did I? Well then. I dropped the stumpy arm while Rose picked up the three remaining hand knives. I'll just need to take care of him right now, then. He jumped onto the reception desk, his pervy glowing eyes leering at me. It should be pretty simple, considering how all of these guys managed to fall from a single dagger—

The male monster let out a screech, causing me to wince and cover my ears. Agh! I have earplugs in, and it still hurts! While he screeched, he thrust his groin back and forth rapidly, pumping his arms at the same time.

What in the world is he doing? It looked like he was ready to burst, and he was trying to finish as fast as possible. He looks so dumb doing it, but every thrust is so sincere, so committed. Weiss would say he looked like a moron. Pretty sure the CCT would say even worse things than that.

But somehow that was enough for the rest of the monsters, who started thrusting their hips all over the place as well. They all let out really dumb, deranged screeches that bordered on insanity. Almost like that dude on RemTube who would wear a pink unitard and just do insane, crazy things while ranting about things that annoyed him. Oh man, I remembered Weiss' face when Ren of all people showed us one of his videos.

But back to the matter at hand. I couldn't help but be awestruck at the sight of all of them having a seizure on the ground, swinging their hips around for no reason at all. This is— What in the— My mind is going completely blank watching this.

With a final screech, they all threw themselves back on their feet, jerking the hand knives out of their thighs and throwing them to the side. I snapped back to reality and paled at the sight. Their blue eyes were all drawn to me. Maybe they're like raptors. They can't see me if I don't move. The monsters licked their lips before flickering them up and down in what could only be a seductive way. And with another yell they started crawling towards me on all fours, butts sticking up in the air. Yup, time to run away again.

Rose threw one of the hand knives into the air, sticking it to the ceiling while I recalled the rest of the knives back to my body. The monsters moaned in delight as they approach, eyes gleaming at me. They won't ever touch me. Just have to time this correctly… I need them to be as far away from my goal as possible. I backed myself against one of the doors this time, pressing my feet against it for stability while grabbing the locked door handle. By now I can see milky white saliva flying out of their mouths. I tried pulling Rose back, but she wouldn't come back.

What the— what's going on? I held up my hands, only to notice the stump where my right middle finger should be. Oh gods, I forgot about that! I have to be complete in order to pull my Stand back. But then— oh gods, I can't spring myself over these guys with my Semblance! My eyes widened in horror as their crotches made circular movements roughly three meters away from me. No! I'm not going to die here! An image of Yang flashed in my head. I have to save her! I'm the only one who can!

I let out a yell, holding my left hand out to Rose. She grabbed my pinky and ripped it off in one go, causing me to wince. I'm not going to let these guys get me! Moments later Rose joined in my scream as she flung the finger as high up as possible. My body exploded into rose petals soon after, soaring up to reconnect with the flying finger. I reformed myself right as I passed over the monsters, stretching my arm out to grab the finger knife stuck on the ceiling. Come on… just a little closer… geez, the ceiling's a lot further up than I expected it to be. I gritted my teeth as I felt my body start to reach its apex. I'm not going to make it!

Rose shot out a second later, bridging the gap and ripping the blade out. I glanced down at the rest of the monsters. All of them are currently looking at me in confusion. Good: the longer they're confused, the more time I have to get out! Rose threw the knife into the elevator door with a roar, with my body transforming and following close behind.

A grunt escaped my mouth as I reformed my body and slammed into the elevator cabin. The rest of the creatures screamed in fury, yanking their crotches around in pursuit. I got back up and slammed the button for the third floor. Come on, come on. I started button mashing like I've never button mashed before. Close! From the corner of my eye, I can make out the monsters. The aluminum doors started closing. They're so close! Hurry up! One of them was about to stick their arm through the door. No, you don't! Rose slammed her fist into that monster's chest, sending the female flying in pain just as the door closed.

Whew. I sank to the ground and started breathing heavily. Oh my gods. What in the world is going on? What in the world are those… things? The monsters themselves aren't too hard to handle, but there are so many of them, and I still have no idea what these things can do.

So far all they've done is chase after me. But what happens if they get me? Five might not seem like a lot for Huntsmen, but when they have Stand abilities… I'm going to be cautious right now, but there's something about not knowing that freaks me out.

This is all so much to take in. I let out a long sigh. Whoever this Stand user is, he or she is strong. To attack so many people at once without caring about whoever happened to be in the crowd… what kind of person would do that? I know Torchwick wouldn't and couldn't do that. The White Fang might… but there were Faunus in the stands as well, so would they really? at the same time, I wouldn't dismiss it. Blake believed that the White Fang lost their way. Attacking a stadium filled with Vale's populace would still sorta make sense with their ideas of taking down all humans at all costs, as hard as it is to admit.

The elevator chimed, stopping in place. But I can't worry about that now. Well, not yet, anyway. I called back Rose and zipped through the doors as soon as they opened, running through a brightly lit hallway with a bunch of closed doors. All of them locked, I assume. Right now, I have to find Yang and get her and any other person in here to someplace safe. I don't want to know what happens if those monsters touch us.

Soon enough I managed to find an open door. I bit my lip. Could this be where Yang's hiding?

A familiar mane of blonde hair flipped towards the door as I ran through. My sister let out a gasp of surprise, jumping up to her feet. "Ruby?"

"Yang!" I rushed over to her and gave her a hug. "Thank gods I managed to reach you! Come on, we need to get out of here now!"

"What?" a small voice asked. "Who are you?" I narrowed my eyes. Who was that? I looked to Yang's side to see a pair of two children where Yang was sitting, a boy and a girl who were hugging each other. They looked maybe nine years old, six years younger than me. The two of them looked like twins, considering they share brown hair, their eyes have the same shade of auburn, and their skin has the same paleness to it. I glanced at Yang, silently asking who these guys were.

"Oh, these guys woke up with me in this building. They apparently went to the concert with their parents, but since they don't seem to be in the building I decided to watch over them." Lilac eyes narrowed as Yang's eyebrows rose. "But why leave? It's probably safer in this building anyway. I couldn't barricade the door on account of these guys," She gestured to the two, "But we can hold out here for now."

"Because one: this place isn't going to disappear ever unless we find the person causing this, and two: because there are monsters that can teleport around, and you don't want to touch them. A barricade won't work." I flinched when the twins squeaked in horror. Oh… maybe I shouldn't have said that in front of them. I put on a smile. "But don't worry, we can figure a way out of here."

The girl sniffled. "But how?"

"We need to get to the top of this building," I answered. "You see, I was outside when I woke up, and there are these floating buildings that are connected by weird bridges. If we can get to the roof, we can get to a place without the scary monsters and maybe find a way out of here." I went over to her and gave her a small, comforting squeeze on the shoulder. "We'll make it out of here, okay?"

Her lips quivered for a moment before she nodded with a sniffle. "Okay."

At that Yang smiled. "Alright then, kiddos." She kneeled down next to them, gesturing particularly to the boy. "Persi, get on my back. My sister Ruby will take care of you, Glade, okay?"

The girl nodded, running over to me and grabbing my hand. I had to hide a squee as she laced her fingers through mine. She might not be much younger than me, but it's still so cute! It's like she's the younger sister I'll never have! But at the same time… I raised my eyebrows up as I remembered what Yang said. What? Why did Persi need to be carried? Glade gave me a glance before she blinked. "Oh, you don't know. My brother has a special condition. I think my parents call it SMA."

"SMA?"

"Spinal Muscular Atrophy," Yang called out while she wrapped the boy's hands around her neck. "I guess people also call it Kugelberg-Welander disease. You probably didn't learn this, but it's one of the disorders you would've learned about during your last year in Signal about genetic disorders. Biology stuff. The idea is that Persi used to be able to walk, but his motor neurons couldn't produce enough of a certain protein so the neurons start breaking down. Once it reaches a certain point, he can no longer move his legs, and when something isn't used, it degrades and becomes weaker. That's why he can't walk."

She let out a groan as she lifted up the boy. "He had a wheelchair to get around, but it's not here. Until we find it again, it'll be easier to just carry him around on my back." Yang tried to look behind her. "Are you still okay back there?"

"There's a lot of hair in my face," he muffled back. The girl had one of her eyebrows twitch.

"I like having long hair. You can adjust it so that it's easier to breathe. Just…" Her face scrunched in agony. "Don't mess it up too much, please." With that, Yang turned towards me. "So how do we get out of here?"

"Follow me." I ran out of the room with Glade trailing behind me. Yang and Persi followed closely behind. The sounds of four pairs of feet slapping against the wooden floors rumbled throughout the hallway. "Basically any kind of closed-door won't open ever. I've tried. The only doors that do open are the front entrance and the elevators. So the plan is that we get back to the elevators and take it as high as possible." I pointed up. "That should take us to either the roof or to the highest floor, which we can use to get to the top. We'll have a lot more options if we do that."

The elevator lobby started appearing in my vision. The only thing we have to worry about at this point is if one of those monsters exit the elevators once I hit the button. The best option we have is for me to bring out Rose and beat them back long enough to get everyone in and hit the button. I can still sneak through with  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES,** **」** so I don't really need to worry about being abandoned, unlike the rest of the group. I mentally nodded my head, affirming myself. Now that's a solid strategy. All we need to do now is to get back to the elevators and prepare for—

We all skidded to a halt as a young man wearing an orange and white striped shirt stood next to the elevator buttons, mashing them as quickly as possible. I let out a gasp. "What the— What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm getting to the roof!" The guy looked towards us while still spamming the button. "You said it yourself. The roof's the best place to be right now. Why wouldn't I be up there after what you just said? I don't want to run into those monsters and die! I have too much to live for!"

My eyes widened as we heard the elevator bell ring out. The man immediately started towards one of the doors. He's going to get himself killed! "No! Get away from the door—"

Before I could say anything else, one of the elevator doors opened, revealing one of the monsters. Everybody froze in fear. Now that I'm in a well-lit area, I can make out the creature in full detail. Thankfully, the guy isn't really naked, instead having on something reminding me of a white skintight latex suit. This particular monster happened to be male, and he was nothing but pure muscle. You could even see veins pop out from the creature's skin. His face is covered by some kind of headwear. It's sorta like a balaclava, but it was made out of the same sort of skintight latex. The only things exposed were his mouth, chin, and glowing blue eyes.

"AGH!" The young man collapsed to the floor. "Go away!" He tried crawling back. "Get away from me!" The rest of the elevator doors slid open, revealing three more monsters: two female and one male. Oh gods, I have to get in there and save him!

"Glade! Run over to Yang! No matter what happens do not look at the monsters!" She was all too eager to agree, letting go of me and stumbling her way back to my sister. Now that I didn't have to worry about her anymore, I readied myself to charge into the fray. One usage of my Semblance: that's all I need to get to the man and drag him out of here. Once I get him out of here, I can bring out Rose and fight off these things long enough to get everyone in—

Everybody jumped at the sound of several doors slamming open. I jerked my head behind me to see all of the hallway doors swinging on their hinges, letting out an occasional squeak as they waved to and fro. My stomach churned in dread as the latex-white monsters stumbled out, swinging their hips around. Oh my gods. There must be almost a hundred of those things, considering just how many doors I vaguely remember passing. I had to get creative fighting five of these guys! And now we have to go up against hundreds of them, not even counting the four in front of us? How am I supposed to do that?

A scream erupted from the elevator lobby, forcing me to turn back. I couldn't help but let out a gasp. One of the bulky masculine monsters already had the man by the neck. Then for some reason… their crotches just started moving. Like if an alien baby was implanted, and was wiggling around, trying to get out. All of the monsters, even the women, had that twitching bulge pull them towards the man. I couldn't help but shudder as the four monsters in front of us gave the poor dude a creepy grin.

"Help!" The man threw a hand towards us as the monsters surrounded him. "Help me!" Despite his pleas, nobody moved a muscle. And as for me… my mind kept drawing a blank. I knew deep in my heart that I wanted to help the guy, and that every second I spent standing around is putting him at risk of those… things. But I couldn't muster the will to get Rose to save him. Not when the hallway was filled with monsters walking towards us. Not when I have to choose between him and the rest of the group. And I know who I'm choosing. I sent Rose behind Yang and the two kids, keeping her ready for the approaching horde. A tear slipped down my face. I'm sorry.

His eyes widened as I summoned Rose. Before he could let out one last cry for help, his face was shoved into the monster's crotch. An eep escaped from Persi as he buried his head into Yang's head while Glade did the same, except in my sister's back. There was nothing Yang and I could do but watch as the rest of the monsters joined the fray, humping and slathering their crotches over the poor man. Yang let out a small choking sound.

And it got worse. As all of the monsters humped the man to the ground, they started vomiting some kind of pale white liquid all over the guy. I dry heaved at the sight. Then the smell hit me, and I dry heaved again. Oh gods, that's foul! It's like it combined sweat, diarrhea, vomit, and all of the terrible smells in the world. All of that was spilling all over the guy, staining his skin white. The monsters all let out a nasally scream as they continued violating the man.

Then, they all backed off. The white liquid started tightening around the man's body. Everybody watched in horror as his body started… mutating, changing, and warping. His muscles started bulking up. His body started to resemble that of the monsters that he had just been attacked by. His glazed eyes were covered up by the white liquid, leaving nothing but a haunting, blue glow.

He stood up, sniffing the air around him. The rest of us stood completely still, unsure of what to do. He looked around, looking at himself, the monsters around him, at us. His lips quivered for a moment, almost like he was going to scream in horror in what he has become.

A feral scream escaped from him as he thrust his hips around. That wiggly crotch thing poked around, causing every other monster to let out a primal call. I felt a drop of sweat slip down my face. This isn't good. Not good at all. Oh gods, we can't let these guys come near us! I can't allow this to happen to me, Yang, or those kids! But at the same time, we're surrounded by these things… screw it!

"Yang, when I give you the call, you get everybody into an elevator and hit the button for the highest floor." I ripped off my right arm, twisting and morphing it into a crude single-handed sword. I glanced back at the other three, who had looked surprised by the rosy stump where my arm had been. "I'll distract these guys long enough to make sure they won't get you."

My sister must've realized what I was doing, because she started towards me. "Ruby, don't do this. I thought we had this talk before, I don't want to lose you too—"

I smiled, throwing my hand out to stop her in her place. "Who said I was going to be the one to stop her?" My eyes narrowed. " **「** **RED LIKE ROSES!** **」** " Rose zipped past me a second later, slamming a fist into the chest of one of the monsters. The creature doubled over. Before anyone could blink, she snatched the stunned monster and swung it into the rest of the creatures, knocking the rest of them into the walls. I waved the sword towards the door. "Come on! Let's go! I'll fend these guys off if they get back up, but we can make it!" I turned around and saw the confused and shocked look on Yang's face. "Yang!"

She shook her head. "Wha— Yeah, right." She tugged Glade. "Come on, you heard her. Let's go." The monsters in the hallway shrieked in anger behind them as they broke out into a sprint.

"Come on! We don't have much time!" I made my way behind them. "Rose! Fend them off until we get out!" My Stand nodded, zipping over to the nearest monster and smashing her fist into its face. While Rose was handling those monsters, I kept my arm sword pointed at the ones within the lobby, ready to fight back if they ever decide to get back up and step towards us. Thankfully, none of them dared to stand. Hmm… why is that? I think I'm starting to understand how this Stand power works.

We managed to make it into the elevator in no time. I let out a sigh as I hit the button to the roof, and the door closed without any monsters getting even close to the lobby. "Whew," I sighed as I watched the counter go up. "We lost them. Thank gods we managed." Another sigh escaped my mouth. "But that guy… I wished I could've done more to save him. If only I didn't hesitate…" I shook my head. "He didn't deserve that terrible fate."

"Mmm," Yang responded. The elevator went silent, aside from the occasional whimper from one of the kids. But it wasn't long until Yang spoke up again. "Hey, Ruby."

"Yeah?"

"Well, you know— I don't know how to put this. If anything, I still can't believe it myself." From the corner of my eye, I could make out Yang trembling. "There are so many questions that I want to ask about everything, but one thing in particular's bothering me."

I raised my eyebrows. "If you're talking about what's happening us to us right now… there's no easy way to explain it. The monsters and all that—"

"No, it's about something else. Something from so long ago." She let out a sigh. "It's been over a month since everything started getting all weird. I remember how it all started with you saying that Mom was alive, Mom was still appearing even though she… left us. To be honest, I had thought you were losing it after that injury you got. But I'm starting to believe you now." What the— what is she trying to get at? Wait… my eyes widened. No way. But normal people can't see—

Yang finished her thought: "I saw her. Mom, that is. She appeared behind us and stepped in to fight those monsters. It's just like what you said. She came in to save us." She turned to look at me. "You saw her too, right?"

* * *

"Ugh!" I grunted as I stomped back towards the entrance to the amphitheater. My thumb ran across my scar as I rubbed my forehead. Where in the world is Blake? I searched all over for what felt like hours, but she's just not here! It's like she left the building or something! At this point, she's just wasting my time. I sighed. Whatever. If she wants to go disappear somewhere and do who knows what, she can go ahead. As for me, I'm going to go back and try to enjoy what's left of the concert. I rubbed the bridge between my eyes. But still, I thought she managed to get past this phase. Apparently not.

A yawn escaped my mouth as I glanced at all of the empty food stands. Huh. I guess the employees go watch the concert while it's going on. It kinda makes sense; after all, nobody's going to buy any snacks or anything like that until an intermission comes along. I felt my stomach rumble. Hmm… I could use something to eat. I mean, there should be some employees standing at the entrance if I remember correctly. Maybe I can ask them.

The entrance came into view, revealing three employees with their backs pressed against the door. All of them had looks of horror on their faces. I raised an eyebrow. What in the world? "Excuse me," I called out, waving my hand at them. None of them noticed me at first. I tried again, this time a little louder. They look stuck in their own imaginary world.

My eye twitched. This is unacceptable. I cupped my mouth and took a deep breath. "Hey!" They all jerked their head towards me. I started towards them. "Hi. Can any of you guys—"

"No!" One of them threw their hand up, stopping me in my tracks.

I narrowed my eyes. "No? You didn't even let me finish." I stepped forwards. "Look, all I'm asking is that—"

"Don't come any closer!" There was an inflection of fear in the worker's voice that made me pause. What's going on? The worker started shaking. "You can't come through this door. I'm sorry, but there's something… weird going on in there. Everybody inside's unconscious, and then there are these ripples in the air bouncing around the entire amphitheater. Ma'am, you're better off finding the nearest terminal and calling the VPD. We can't move from this spot, we refuse to! We're the only people keeping this door closed and preventing the things from getting out!"

That caught my attention. Air ripples? Wouldn't that be impossible to see? "I have to see what's going on." I marched forwards, gesturing one of the employees to the side. "Scoot over. I need to know what's happening."

Again the guy whimpered. "No, you can't come closer! We can't protect you from whatever's going on inside—"

"I'm a Huntress, now move over!" The worker shut up, meekly stepping to the side so I can look through the window. I gasped. In the air there were weird lines twisting around in the air, making strange geometrical shapes. Then they shifted, becoming two bolts of electricity running across the walls. Now it's a series of ripples. Right after that was a wavelength, running to the beat of some song. It's ever flowing, ever-changing. The visuals were psychedelic, similar to those sound visualizers that would show up when somebody played music.

Oh my gods, who knows what kind of damage that can do to people? My eyes widened. And Ruby and Yang are in there! They must've already been hit by the waves! Who knows what could've happened to them!

And the moans… I can make out a faint chorus of groans and moans escaping past the door, accompanied by a haunting soundtrack in the backdrop. It's the song in particular that caught my attention. It's nothing at all like the Achieve Men's usual music. The rapid, almost organized drum pattern they prefer to use was now slower, more intentional, more moody, more synthetic. The keyboard had a soothing pattern, something that actually invoked a sense of dread. Combine that with the more prominent guitar, bass, and the sad choral moans of the audience and now you have a song that sounds sinister.

I winced before stepping back. What the— For one moment, it felt like it tried to get inside my head. One of the workers let out a hiss. "Get back! That is what I am talking about! There's something terribly wrong here. The band's not playing the original program, and the audience looks to be unconscious. We need to call the police now and get help, or maybe some actual Huntsmen—"

"They can't help with this," I sighed. It can't be possible, but it is. We must've been attacked by an enemy Stand, right in the middle of the concert; not to mention right before the Vytal Festival. If the audience dies during this event, Vale's going to get a lot of flak, and the negativity that would arise from this… I tightened my hand into a grip. I won't let that happen!

**「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared behind me as I beheld the wavelength within the amphitheater. I don't have a lot of time. What in the world can I do to take down that Stand?

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 3/16/18**

* * *

**Fox's Bizarre Adventure - Act 3**

To say that we were surprised was an understatement. Both Coco and I shrieked in terror as we fell back, away from the ghostly figure. Oh my gods, we have to get out of here right now. I started crawling backward, keeping my hand on my leader all the while.

"Fox!" Coco cried as she crawled back with me. "Tell me you can sense that thing, right?"

I let out a hum, nodding my head as my mind tried to process what was currently happening.. I shouldn't be surprised, really. I have a guardian spirit protecting me. And I've seen spirits before. This should not be surprising at all. But an actual ghost? No one who's died in my sights never had their souls trapped here in the realm of the living. My fingers started shaking for the first time in a long time. All of this is new territory for me. We're probably going to die if we don't get out of here right now—

"Wait, wait, wait; just hold on for a moment!" The burly figure stuck his arm out. "I don't mean any harm! This is an honest misunderstanding! Just stop for a moment and let me explain my side of the story, will you?" We didn't pay him any heed, and continued our backpedaling away from him. The ghost let out a sigh. "This is all a big misunderstanding, believe me." He started towards us. "I don't intend to harm you in any way, so please—"

"Nope, not happening!" The sounds of a finger tapping on a screen registered in my ears. Coco started hyperventilating. "I've seen enough horror movies to know that this is the part where you gloat about how we disturbed your slumber and that we're cursed to be haunted for eternity, and believe me that I'll be pissed if a ghost messed with my career!"

He tilted his head to the side, scratching his head at the same time. "I don't get it. One: what is a horror movie? Two: how could you guys disturb my slumber or something? I've been awake the whole time I've been here. And ghosts don't really need sleep."

"Aha!" Coco's Aura extended a finger towards the man. "So you are a ghost!"

"Well, yes. But your imagination has driven you astray. Since when did ghosts hurt other people?"

"How about the fact that—"

As the two of them started debating each other, it suddenly occurred to me that we should check what's actually behind us.  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** appeared for a second, smacking the ground behind us before fading away. I let out a long sigh as the vibrations recreated the room. Okay, so we're currently— A solid object appeared in my mental image right behind me. Oh crud—

I winced an instant later as I felt my shoulder bump into the side counter. My gods, how did I miss that? From the sounds of it, Coco didn't run into anything major either. The sound of metal snapping caught my attention just a moment later, followed by several objects whizzing down towards us. I chewed the side of my cheek. Side tables… chemicals! Oh crud— I threw myself over Coco, bracing myself for whatever burns or other horrifying effects this can have on my Aura.

But they never came. One second became two, two became four, and so on until it finally hit me: none of the test tubes were hitting me. Huh? What just happened? I brought my focus above me. Right above us were the same vines that tried to shatter the glass just a couple of minutes before. Said vines were coiling up in certain areas, as if they were wrapping around something. Bringing my focus behind me revealed the ghost with his hand out. The vines extended from his palm.

"Whew," he sighed as he gestured to my left. The vines flew over the table before setting down whatever objects he caught. Most likely the test tubes, judging from the clinking sounds. "Now that was lucky. It wouldn't be good if the contents of these test tubes landed on you. Are you aware of chlorine gas? Nasty weapon, that's for sure. When you breathe it in, it gets absorbed in moist tissues like your eyes, throat, and lungs, and forms an extremely strong acid, basically eating you from the inside out. Can even affect people with Aura, which is why it was considered a weapon of mass destruction. They were doing experiments on the substance here. You're lucky that I caught them at the last moment."

I said nothing, instead twisting my head towards the ghost in surprise. "Wha— You're not going to kill us?"

The ghost let out a confused 'huh.' "No. After all, I don't want to do that to two strangers that just fell in. That would be a disgrace to my fam— my father's name and my pride as a gentleman." The vines faded away, leaving just the three of us. "After all, it would be uncouth of me to treat any guest that didn't intend on destroying this bunker in such a manner." He gave us a bow. "If I may, let's start all over from the beginning. May I know your names?"

Both Coco and I stared in the direction of the ghost. Can we trust this guy? On one hand, he seems really nice. After all, he didn't attack us directly, and he did save us. As far as we know, he might actually be telling the truth and actually caught the chlorine gas ingredients. But then again… We are still in his 'domain', more or less. I'm still running on limited information. Could he be hiding something important?

I sighed. There aren't enough facts to work with. Way too much of my judgment has been based on assumptions. And I've been overthinking everything recently. Isn't that how I got into trouble with Jaune a couple of weeks back? But at the same time, I'm the only person who can protect Coco and myself if it does turn out this guy is hostile. Is it worth the risk? My forehead wrinkled. Years ago, 'no' would be the cut and dry answer. But now, when not every user I meet wants to kill me? It's a lot harder to say.

Coco beat me to the punch, though. "Well, what about all of that creepy stuff with the room right before all of this?" I turned to sense her Aura. She was facing in the general direction of the ghost, holding her hand in front of her like she was holding her— I mean, my scroll. "You were shattering all of the glass and everything! How would you know that the glass you broke didn't have chlorine gas to kill us?"

"For one thing, the majority of the destroyed test tubes here are empty," the ghost started, crossing his arms. "I would know, the Great War ended right as the experiments with chlorine gas started to bear fruit. They didn't have the chance to actually use any of the glass you see here. I think it was only that one side-table that still had any material inside. Two." The ghost scratched the back of his neck. "To be honest, I was trying to determine what exactly you were doing in an abandoned place like this. It's obvious that you're not raiders, but I had to assume the worst." He placed his hand on his chin. "After all, I remember right after the war ended, couples would often find secluded areas and… celebrate together loudly."

"Huh? What do you mean— Oh." My team leader let out a sound of disgust. "Ew, no. It's nothing like that between me and Fox. We're Huntsmen teammates—"

"Sorry for interrupting." He held out a hand. "But what's a Huntsman?"

I let out a hum. "You don't know?"

He shook his head. "Not a clue. After all, I have been dead for a couple of years. Keeping track of the world when I'm here is surprisingly difficult, especially ever since the radio broke down. Actually, I should've asked this question first: what year is it?"

"Uh…" I coughed in my hand. "1013 A.D."

The ghost let out a small sound. "One thousand— that can't be right. Are you absolutely sure you're talking about one thousand and thirteen years after Dust was discovered, right? A.D. still means 'After Dust,' right? No mistake? No changes to the calendar system since the Great War?" I nodded. He pressed his hands against his face. "My gods… Eighty years. It's been eighty years since the end of the Great War. How long was I down there? How much has changed over the years? How much of history have I missed?"

Against all odds, the giant ghost started fretting in front of us, causing Coco and I to shift our weight in discomfort. "What kind of historian and archaeologist am I to miss eighty years of Remnant history? There is so much to catch up on, so much to learn about the new state of the world, whether there are new cultures that sprang up, so on and so forth. I wonder if the old gang are still alive. After all, living to be one hundred back during the Great War was almost impossible. Unless there were advancements in medicine over eighty years—"

I coughed into my hand. "Can I interrupt for just a moment?" The man stopped his speech, turning his head in my direction. "Let me make this clear: no, we aren't here to raid this place or do… teenager stuff. No, we were clearing out Grimm in the area when we stumbled upon the bunker, and a sudden collapse caused both Coco and I to fall in."

"Mmhmm." Coco stepped forwards. "We need to get back to the rest of our team. Do you know a way back up to the surface?"

"Of course!" The ghost's figure flickered in pleasure. "I've been here for quite some time, and I managed to memorize the location of every single corridor and room in this place! If you would like it, I can show you the path I normally take to get to the top of the bunker."

"That would be wonderful!" my team leader said. "Yeah, go ahead and lead the way."

"Alright then!" The ghost turned around. "Now, give me a moment. I've got to think about the route regular people would take. After all, being ethereal means that I can phase through anything. And well… I never really needed to use corridors. Now, after I walk out of the room, do I need to make a left or—"

I leaned towards the fashionista and brought my mouth close to her ear. "Wait, Coco. Why are you pointing my scroll towards the ghost? I thought you couldn't see him."

"Well, I can see an outline of his Aura using the camera app," she whispered back. "I got reminded of a ghost story from an old psychic I ran into way back. Crazy old coot, but she mentioned using a digital camera to capture a person's Aura. Honestly, I can't believe this is working."

"By the way, before I forget to ask again, can you tell me what your names are?" The giant of a ghost turned around. "I would refer to you two as just 'Sir' and 'Lady,' but having a name afterward just feels more appropriate."

"Right." I finally stood up. "I'm Fox, and this is Coco."

He bowed. "Sir Fox. Lady Coco. A pleasure to meet you two."

"Um… It's just Fox and Coco." I brushed my pants off. "We don't use titles such as 'sir' or 'lady' anymore."

"I don't know…" Coco let out a chuckle. "I don't mind being called 'madam.'"

"… Right. But what about you?" I tilted my head towards the ghost. "What should we call you?"

The ghost sighed. "Really, I don't know if you would be interested. After all, I am a ghost. Names would be useless if everyone I know from the past has long since passed away. And plus, I've never been… much for my actual name. It's something I'd rather keep to myself."

"Well, we do have to call you something." I shrugged. "Maybe just give us the first letter of your name?"

He let out a hum. "That is acceptable. You may call me J. And I believe this is yours, Lady Coco." A vine floated in the air, pressing a scroll into Coco's hands before fading away. With that J. turned around. "So, ready to get out of here?" He started floating towards one of the exits. I gave one more gesture to Coco. She shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head to the side a bit before nodding. We started following J. The ghost took a deep breath. "If you don't mind, can you indulge me and tell me of the world you live in now?" I nodded. He continued, "So, tell me…"

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should mention how I created the calendar for this story. This is mainly just quick world building so I could actually write what I wanted to write, but this is how I wrote the history of Remnant:
> 
> AD = after Dust; BD = Before Dust
> 
> 1000 BD = First orally told story of the history of Remnant
> 
> 500 BD = Beginning of written history
> 
> 0 AD = The year Dust is discovered and used to fight the Grimm
> 
> 27 AD = Formation of the first Kingdoms
> 
> 923 AD = Start of the Great War
> 
> 933 AD = End of the Great War
> 
> 1013 AD = Current year
> 
> It's mainly story notes for me, but I realized how it a casual mention of this might be confusing for some, so I thought it was worth mentioning here.


	32. Hocus Pocus - Part 2

I was left speechless as Persi, Glade, Yang, and I rose up the elevator. Dread started filling my chest. So many thoughts ran through my head as I processed what Yang had said.  _"I saw her. Mom that is. It's just like what you said. She came in to save us."_  That can't be possible. I know for a fact that Stand users can only see other Stands. For her to see Rose meant that some time while I wasn't paying attention, Yang managed to get hit by the Arrow! I gritted my teeth. This can't be real. She can't be.

"Ruby?" I glanced up into my sister's lilac eyes. "That was Mom back there, right?" I kept my silence. She continued on: "Was it or was it not? You have to answer me, Ruby! Mom couldn't possibly be alive after all this time! Who was that who just came in to save us?"

Persi sat up. "Yeah. Who was that woman?" My eyes flicked towards the boy. Him too? When did he get hit by the Arrow?

Glade nodded. "Was that really your mommy that helped us out there?" And Glade— No way. That's impossible! There's no way that the Cupid struck all three of them! What are the odds of that?

"Yang." I grabbed her by the forearms, causing her to jerk back in shock. "I need you to answer me this question. Did you see a Grimm in the form of a human baby? Did it have an arrow in its hands? And did it ever cut you with that arrow?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Yang raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Nothing else came into our room from when I woke up to when you came in. Geez, Ruby. There wasn't anything like that."

"What about headaches? Sudden pains throughout your whole body? Feeling like your body's being ripped apart or— or burning or—"

"No! I've never felt that, and neither did Persi or Glade! Ruby, what's going on? You're getting so worked up about this. Not at all like you are normally. You're scaring the kids!" True to her words, Persi and Glade buried their heads into Yang, trembling at my sudden outburst.

"Sorry." I let go of Yang's arms and slunk back. "You're right. But at the same time, it's something that I would rather keep quiet. Knowing about this is dangerous stuff. Normally people shouldn't be able to see those kinds of figures, but all three of you guys can. But, none of you guys came even close to that Grimm baby thing. So none of you guys could have been hit by the Arrow at all." I placed a fist under my chin and let out a hum. "Is it maybe that this place is special? A place where it's possible for anyone to see the figures? Sounds like the best possible explanation at this point."

Yang gave me a confused look. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Just thinking out loud," I waved off. "But yeah, it's not the best idea to talk about what just happened." I held a finger out, interrupting Yang before she could protest. "All you guys have to know right now is that Rose is my guardian angel, and she'll protect us from the monsters. It's more important to focus on surviving long enough until we can find the way out." The bell in the elevator chimed as we slowly came to a stop. "Trust that Rose and I will get us out of here!"

"…" Yang gave me an unusual look, her forehead creasing, but she still nodded. "Okay then. Lead the way, Ruby." The doors opened up a moment later, revealing the rooftop. The outside reflected a more modern type of construction with how it was mostly flat. Oh yeah, wasn't it always like that on the outside? It still doesn't make much sense. I looked around. A few fans and air duct funnels stuck out here and there, but they didn't really add much to the image.

One thing that struck me then and there was the staircase connecting this building to one of the floating upside-down buildings. I had to let out a whistle just taking one look at it. Wow… it really is a lot like that children's book author. The best way to describe the stairs was abstract. They curve in such an unusual pattern, forming loops, corkscrews, and other strange patterns that should be more or less impossible to make in the real world. There's no way people could actually use them as actual stairs, even if that was possible. We have to walk a ton in order to get higher up. I took a deep breath and sighed. What other choice do we have? Go down?

I looked at the side of the building and gasped. The hundreds of people that used to be in the plaza were gone, replaced with those creepy monsters swinging their hips around without a care in the world. I bit my lip as I stared at the terrifying scene. How did they get attacked like this so quickly? Did I spend more time in the building than I thought? Who knows? But we can't go back now. I let out a slow, deep breath. We just have to keep moving forward.

Yang paled as I stepped towards the staircase. "You're kidding, right? There's no way that this thing is safe."

"Nope." I popped the 'p' at the end. "But we can't go down anymore. We'll just get overwhelmed by the hundreds of monsters on the ground. We need to get to higher ground, where it's less likely there will be those monster things in the way. Besides, I can transform into rose petals if I fall off."

Before Yang could let out another complaint, I stepped on the first step and immediately started twisting as I walked through a corkscrew. My eyes widened. I'm not falling? This is just getting weirder and weirder. But oh my gods, I didn't fall! "Yang, did you see that?" I turned to her. "I just went upside down, and I didn't fall!"

She nodded. The rest of the kids looked surprised as well. I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, I guess that means that we don't have to worry about that part anymore." I gestured to them. "We've got a long walk ahead of us. Come on, we gotta get to the top!"

* * *

I bit my lip, pacing outside the amphitheater entrance. Now, this was a frustrating puzzle. I let out a growl as I combed through my snow-white ponytail, staring at the closed amphitheater door. Inside the wiggling waves taunted me, inviting me to come in. But if I do, then I'll be affected by the music, and who knows what would happen then? So now I'm left with this dilemma. How in the world am I going to go in there without that creepy music affecting me?

"You." I pointed to one of the workers with Feld on his name tag. "Tell me, where were you when the waves hit?"

"Well, uh, I was guarding the door from the inside. I was listening to general updates from the control center when the music started playing. I felt lightheaded immediately, but I thought it was just nausea or something, so I walked outside to get some air. A couple of minutes passed, and I came back to see these two holding the door back." He gestured to the other two. "They were the ones who insisted on keeping the door closed."

I nodded, turning towards the others. "And you two? What happened inside?"

One of them, a guy by the name of Ferrum, shivered. "I was at the side of the wall, making sure that everyone was okay. Then the music started playing. All of a sudden, the cheering of the crowd just started slowing all of a sudden. Everyone started nodding off. In the beginning, I thought that the introduction song just didn't click with the audience, but as people started falling unconscious, I started getting this feeling of dread. That I had to get out of there as soon as possible. Then—"

He choked, holding back a sob. "Then while I was going up, there were these parents already on the ground, trying to drag themselves and their two children out of the amphitheater. The children were already unconscious, and the parents must've been at their absolute limit. I remember— I remember their whispers to me." The man pressed his hands against his face. "They wanted me to get the children out of there. And I tried. But then the ripples of the air formed right after I touched them— I had to run." A tear slipped down his face. "I couldn't save anyone. Not even those children. I'm so useless—"

I grabbed his shoulder. "You're not. You did whatever you could." I bit my lips, thinking back to the training on civilian emotion management. "Don't think you're useless. You're telling me exactly what's going on, and that gives me a better idea of how to fight off this thing. By surviving, you're giving these individuals a chance to survive."

My eyebrows furrowed as I stepped away. This gives me a lot of good information in terms of how to fight this thing. However, I'm still missing one crucial piece: how I can get in the amphitheater without falling unconscious? I could go in and dip back out, but there's no way I could maintain that system for long.

There has to be something the workers all had in common that allowed them to get out without falling unconscious. Maybe the last person might have the key. I turned towards her. Faye was her name. "Alright. And what about you?" She didn't respond, instead just staring into space somewhere as she bobbed her head to some kind of music in her earbuds. I waved my hand in front of her. "Hello? Are you there?"

She jerked back, glancing at me before realizing my presence. She ripped out her earbuds, taking a shaky breath in. "Oh, sorry. I'm still a little shaky from everything. Listening to my own stuff keeps me distracted. I don't really want to think back on what just happened."

"It's okay. I understand. But if there is anything that you can offer me, anything that you think will be useful to help me save those people, I am willing to hear you out."

The worker swallowed, frowning for a moment before nodding her head. "I was the one closest to the stage, right below one of the speakers, in fact. It was maybe my second week here, you know, just getting comfortable with working and all that. There isn't a lot I can add to what everybody said already. Everybody fell asleep, from the audience to the Achieve Men. It's like that one show where for a couple of minutes everybody around me fell unconscious. Except they didn't wake up afterward this time." She wrinkled her eyebrows. "Wait a minute…"

"What?" I leaned in. "Did you realize something?"

"Maybe…" She shook her head. "I'm not sure. It's just a farfetched theory, as far as I know."

"Nothing's that far-fetched in a situation like this," I replied. "It's okay. Any idea you have could be the key to stopping this thing."

She nodded. "Okay. I think there's something about the music. Something about it is making all of the people falling asleep. The thing is, I had my earbuds on while the concert was on, listening to my own stuff." The woman held up her pair. "It's pretty good at blocking sound, so I use it in place of earplugs." I nodded, rubbing the base of my chin. Could it really be? If the actual music is what's causing everyone to fall unconscious…

Ferrum stepped forward, his eyes slightly widening in realization. "Now that I think about it, it does make a bit of sense. Feld over here was close to the exit, so he managed to escape from the music before it could really get to him. And I was given a set of noise-canceling earplugs if I ever have to get close to the speakers. Gods, they are loud. You can lose your hearing just by attending a concert. Being next to the speakers at full blast without any kind of protection is just  _asking_  to go deaf at the age of forty."

"Hmm… okay." I nodded my head. The idea that the music is causing this makes the most sense at the moment. It can't be the waves since the Ferrum guy already stated they didn't appear until he touched one of the audience members. The Achieve Men doing this is out of the question as well, since Faye said that they were affected by this, too. If I can get something to plug my ears and go in, I should still be okay."

I narrowed my eyes. But now there's another problem: who in the world is the Stand user? Who's making the music that's causing everyone to fall asleep? There's no way the Stand user  _is_  the waves. That's probably the Stand itself right there. But if it's not that, what could it be? It could be a person, an animal or even a plant for all I know! My mind's drawing a complete blank on the matter— Wait, Weiss. Think about this more calmly. Whoever it is, they must still be inside the amphitheater. And plus, I don't  _have_  to find out who the user is. I can always target the Stand instead and figure it out from there.

"Alright." I pulled out the pair of earplugs that was originally for Blake and started putting them into my ears. "I'm going in. Can you guys try speaking to me just so I can check that these are working fine?" There was a muffled sound escaping from Feld's mouth. "What?" I squinted at his moving mouth, but I couldn't make out a single coherent word. "I think it's working fine. That's good." I walked over to a nearby souvenir station and grabbed a plastic toy sword.

Ugh. My forehead wrinkled as I looked at the sloppily-made item. It's generic junk people sell when they need quick merchandise. It doesn't hold a candle to Myrtenaster. But then again, I didn't want to bring my rapier into a stadium full of civilians. What kind of message would that send to the crowd? I let out the sigh. The toy will do.

I dusted my hands, returning to the door and taking a couple of paces back. "Here's how we're going to do this. I'm going to launch myself in the amphitheater. I might be able to walk in there, but I expect the wave thing will attack me. So I'm going to need to go in fast." A pale white glyph formed behind me, followed quickly by a straight line of glyphs. "When I count to three, open the doors for me to fly in, then close them immediately. No matter what happens afterward, don't open the door until I come back over and knock on it. Is that understood?"

All three of them tilted their heads for a bit before giving me a thumbs up. That should be good enough. I put myself in a ready position as the rest of the group lined up next to the doors, ready to throw them open at a moment's notice. Okay, Weiss. Keep breathing steadily. This is for the sake of everyone in that room. I took in one more deep breath, focusing on nothing but the doors in front of me. "One… two… three!"

The doors propped open right as I pushed off. All of the glyphs let off a beautiful glow as I was launched off, speeding into the room. Almost immediately afterward I felt a wave of dread hit me. Ugh… I can feel goosebumps forming on my skin. On one hand, I can't hear a single thing that's going on, which has to be a good sign. I'm not going to fall victim like these others did. On the other hand, it just feels so weird. It's still affecting me even with the ear protection. Maybe it would work better if I can completely block out sound… I'll just have to make do with these.

I felt a rumble under my feet as the doors behind me slammed shut. The wavy Stand in front of me reacted, taking on its electric form. It twisted and turned, sparking towards me with an unnerving buzz I can hear through the earbuds. Well, no running away now. Another glyph formed below me for a split second before sending me flying towards the psychedelic waves. The zig-zagging lines reacted in an instant, sending the lightning arcs up towards me. I cocked one of my eyebrows up. You think a bunch of lightning bolts will stop a Schnee?

Another glyph formed in front of me, and I used it to spring off and shoot towards the roof. **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** flew out, swinging its saber rapidly against various segments of the roof. Immediately after making contact, Dust crystals grew from the cuts and formed a series of lines and pathways. A long, reasonable chunk of Lightning Dust also sprouted out from the center of these channels. I sighed. I don't have any metal to conduct the electricity properly, but if my calculations are right, the Dust I created to make this should be enough.

Right as I reached the apex of my rise,  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** struck the Lightning Dust with the blunt end of its saber, sending sparks into the improvised circuit board. The static ran through the lines, causing the yellow Dust to glow. Almost immediately after, the arcs flew towards the Dust pathways, missing me and striking the roof instead. Little ripples of lightning bounced within the Dust crystals. I watched in pride as the arcs tried to curve towards me, but no matter what, they just couldn't rip away from the roof and come after me.

The side of my lip pulled up. No more static to worry about now. What kind of idiot did this thing think I am? Did it really think that I wouldn't try to redirect the arcs of lightning? It's basic electrical engineering. Lightning is formed through positive and negative charges forming in the air. And if I can make one location charged more negatively than anything else, it becomes an improvised lightning rod where any sparks will be attracted to! I started falling towards the wavy Stand as **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** yanked its saber out and struck another part of the ceiling. This time an orange Dust stalactite formed, which my Stand quickly snatched it to interrupt my fall.

I adjusted the earplugs as I swung around, wincing with every swing. Geez, this stalactite is hard to hold on to with just my Stand. At least I don't have to worry about falling into those waves. But okay, I've got to find where the Stand user is right now. I glanced around the amphitheater. Okay, the Stand user has to be a person that's still awake, right? I narrowed my eyes for a moment before they shot open with surprise. My gods, what's happening with the crowd? All of them were still unconscious, but a growing amount of them had begun to foam at the mouths. And it's hard to find the odd man out in the dark. Where in the world could this guy be?

Think… the music is the thing that's causing everyone to fall asleep… so the guy has to be either onstage or next to the audio equipment. How else would he or she manage to target so many people at once? My eyes flew towards the stage. Just like what Faye said, all six members of the Achieve Men were unconscious. But I don't see anyone onstage. And I can see the sound mixer on the side, yet nobody's manning it. This is strange… The only thing on the stage are the band's instruments, but those couldn't possibly be Stands. Every single Stand we met beforehand came from living beings!

Before I could dwell on this any further, I felt something change in the air. What the— I turned around to see the waves stop spewing electricity, instead forming cubes and launching them at me. My eyes widened for a moment before I threw myself onto one of the incoming geometric shapes. Oh gods! What in the world— These things are tangible? I pulled myself up. I thought they were just effects! But the fact that I can touch them— just what is this thing? I started leaping from cube to the cube, making my way up towards the ambiguously shaped Stand.

Come on! With a loud cry, I leaped onto the cloud, grabbing on tight with my hands. Even though I shouldn't be able to hold onto it, somehow… I just am. I'm actually holding onto air and not falling off. But that's something that I shouldn't worry about right now.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** readied their sword to cut it down. I'm most likely not going to find the Stand user at this rate. That's okay, though. All I have to do is beat down the Stand, and that should be enough to cancel out the effect—

What in the world? I narrowed my eyes. Is it just me, or are there tiny people running on these little waves? Wait a minute… it is! I leaned in. Huh? Why in the world are there people in there? Could they be the people in the amphitheater? My eyes widened as I saw a small group of four walking up one of the strands. Oh my gods… that's Ruby and Yang with two kids! But that's impossible! I glanced at my teammate's bodies. Sure enough, both of them were knocked out cold. How did they get here if they're over there? Can this Stand absorb souls and put them here? What's the point of that? Can I communicate with them?

There's only one way to know for sure. I opened my mouth.

* * *

"Yang! Ruby!" I flinched when I heard the familiar voice of my partner. Everybody else stopped walking up the staircase as well. Yang let out a confused sound. What the— Did Weiss just speak to us from the sky? I looked up and met a set of giant blue eyes staring at us from the sky. I flinched again. Holy— Is that Weiss? How did she get up there? She leaned a bit back, revealing more of her face. It is! That is Weiss!

"Rubyyy," Glade cried as she ran behind me. "Will you bring out your guardian angel to fight the face in the sky? Is she going to hurt us too?"

I shook my head. "No, she's one of the good guys." A smile grew on my face. "Weiss!" I walked as close as possible to the edge of the staircase as I gave her a wave. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you! How did you manage to get up there in the sky?" I shook my head. "No, that doesn't matter. Look, Yang and I are with these kids in this weird reality. Did you find the Stand user yet?"

A frown grew on Weiss' face as she narrowed her eyebrows. Did she see us? I'm pretty sure that Weiss should be able to see us if she called out our names. I cupped my hands and took in a deep breath. "Weiss! Did you find who is doing all of this?" This time she let out a hum that vibrated the staircase. She turned around and pointed at something in her ear. Are those Blake's earplugs? Why is she wearing those?

Weiss tapped the foam plugs in her ears. "I can't hear anything. The music is what's causing this. I'll end up like you guys if I take them off." What? The music? I raised my eyebrows. What music? The only music that anybody heard would be the Achieve Men— My eyes widened. That music! There's something about the music that sent us all to this weird monster realm! So that means Weiss is wearing the earplugs to block out the sound! She didn't get sent to the sky for some random reason, she's looking into this place through the real world!

Oh gods. She's looking into this world. I let out a hum of my own. That's a telling hint. She's in the real world, but she can't hear any of the music due to the earplugs. That's the trigger to being dragged into this place. Now the question is where are we? We have to be somewhere where she can just look into our realm… I can't think of any real solution. I think the best I can say is that we're probably inside the Stand or something. There are two problems with that, though. One: I have no way of proving that we are in fact within the Stand. Two: even if we  _could_  prove that, how would that help us find the Stand user?

That's what we need at the end of the day. There's too many of those monsters to actually make a difference in hurting the user. If the buildings themselves are the Stand or at least part of the Stand, then there's no way I could hurt it enough to change something. But maybe Weiss can figure out the Stand user. She might be able to get us out of here. My eyes widened. Wait… I know how I can signal her!

My side exploded into rose petals, disrupting my balance and forcing me to look down. Whoa! I can't even see any kind of ground below us. It's like staring into a deep chasm or something. But I don't wanna overdo my Stand ability. Betting on whether I can stop my fall with  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** isn't something I want to try today. I glanced back at the rising rose petals. Already they were partially merging into letters. Not completely, of course. I still need this to be floating for Weiss to read properly.

The heiress narrowed her eyes as she read the improvised text. "User found?" She looked at me. "Are you asking if I found the user yet?" I nodded my head.

Yang let out a grunt of confusion. "What are you guys talking about? None of this is making sense. What in the world is a—"

"No, not yet," Weiss interrupted, drowning out Yang's words. "From the looks of it, everybody in here is unconscious, even the band members." She let out a yelp as she shook in the sky for a moment. "Okay, this thing is starting to get angry at how I'm still on it. But you have to help me with this, Ruby. There's no living being that could possibly be causing this. I met up with the only three conscious people in this building, and none of them are users. They didn't attack or try anything while I was with them. Do you have any other idea of who could potentially be causing this?"

A hum escaped my mouth as I frowned. There's no living being that could've caused this? But that doesn't make any sense. It has to be something or someone. In all of the fights we experienced ever since the Stand Arrow came along, the only people we fought were Remnans. Well, except for the tapeworm, that was an animal… parasite… thing. If it isn't any kind of living being whatsoever, what could it be? Just inanimate objects? I've never heard of a Stand user like that… ever! Whew, what I wouldn't do to have Arslan or Fox here to give insight.

But then again, maybe we do need to consider that an object could become a Stand user. But there are so many questions that come from that happening. For example, why would an object attack a crowd out of nowhere? How did somebody get that object into the building and get it to cause so much damage? Who does that object belong to, and how did they manage to get into contact with a Stand user? Can an object even have the sheer will needed to create a Stand as powerful as this? I wanted to rub my temples. Ow, my head… How are we ever going to find a Stand user that is just an object? If only I could get out of here… it would be a lot easier than if it was just Weiss.

The rose letters morphed in the air, forming another set of words. Weiss read it before groaning. "You're joking, right? There's no way— How is an object a user, and how in the world am I going to find that in an entire amphitheater? There have to be thousands of items in just the seats alone, not to mention whatever the audience stuffed in their pockets and whatnot! I don't have the time to search everyone while the Stand is going after me!"  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared behind her. "In fact, why didn't I do this earlier? I can just end it right now!" The frontier-esque Stand raised their sword to swing down upon us.

"What in the— Weiss too?"

"HAP!" The saber slashed through the stairs, missing us by a solid ten meters in my perspective. Despite clearly passing through, all the stairs did was flicker and glitch out before returning back to normal. Weiss growled and continued to swing at us. "HAPHAPHAPHAPHAPHAP!"

"Oh gods!" Yang yelled as she pulled Persi close to her body. "Ruby, Glade, we gotta get out of here! Who knows what's going to happen if that sword hits us!" In my panic, something nagged in the back of my head. What did Yang say?

Weiss let out a frustrated huff. "Why isn't this thing getting hurt? It doesn't make sense!"  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** stopped swinging their sword. "I'm holding on to it right now, so it has to be solid. It's certainly tangible. But the saber just keeps passing through like it's air! Is it possible that I can't hurt this thing at all?" Her eyes widened. "No way… you've got to be kidding me. I actually have to find the item that is keeping this thing together?" She groaned again. "How can this possibly get any worse?"

She suddenly let out a gasp, taking on a look of surprise. I can make out drops of sweat as her face started twisting in fear. Her mouth quivered. "Oh gods."

* * *

This is not good. One moment I was trying to think about how in the world to look for a Stand in an item. The next… was really unsettling. I can feel something slowly slide up my leg. Something static-y but at the same time wiggly and slippery like a tentacle. I shivered. Nope! I threw myself to the side, yanking my leg away from one of the weird line waves that appeared. I've seen enough of Blake's perverted novels to know what's bound to happen next! I'm not going to deal with this!

**「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** swung their saber at the wiggling limb to little effect. I gotta get out of here right now—! Right then, I felt some kind of tentacle wrap around my stomach, squeezing the air out of me. I let out a gasp for air. Oh gods. It's so tight! I started clawing at the bindings. No! I need to get out of here— I'm not going to let this thing be the end of me! A glyph formed near my thrashing feet as  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** faded away. I'll just leap away from it—

The wavy Stand raised me in the air and threw me into the crowd before I could do anything. I groaned in pain as I slammed against the backing of the chairs. But that's not something I can worry about right now. Ruby and Yang were walking up on one of the waves! And not only that, but they can see me and sort of talk to me. But now I have another problem. It was the last words I managed to read before this Stand through me aside. The problem of having to look for an inanimate Stand user. That's just impossible! How in the world am I going to do that?

Okay Weiss, maybe you need to look at the bigger picture. I pulled myself under the feet of the unconscious populace. Hopefully that should keep the wiggly limbs from snatching me. But hmm… there's something I'm missing here. I quickly see that everybody within the stadium is unresponsive.

In fact, some of them are foaming at the mouth. There was one man dressed in orange and white stripes whose eyeballs had rolled into their sockets. It's like their brains are vegetating or something. There has to be something more to this. Maybe them foaming at the mouth is a pattern that I can follow. I shook my head. No, that's ridiculous. There's no pattern that I can work with. It's all dispersed around, with a few people foaming at the mouth in clusters. This will be a dead end.

Come on, think! I racked my head for an idea that could give me an edge over this monster of a Stand. Music, music… why music? There's undoubtedly easier ways to cause an entire amphitheater to lose consciousness. But Stands are like that. It's not supposed to make sense when you first look at it, but there's always something backing it up. That something is what I need to figure out. And it has to do with the music. That's the cause of everything that's happening so far. But what could that something be?

What can I get rid of immediately? That's the bigger question right now. What's not likely to be the Stand user? Let's see… It might be some kind of electronic, but no speaker on any scroll I've seen can possibly affect thousands of people within a single amphitheater—

It clicked in my head. It's true that there isn't a speaker on a  _scroll_  that's loud enough to do that. I glanced up at the wall speakers hanging from all around the room. But there  _are_  speakers here that can do the job. Yeah… I might be onto something. Speakers amplify sound, so it wouldn't be odd to have it blare out the song the Stand is using to lull everyone unconscious. But at the same time, speakers can't suddenly become Stand users. No, the actual Stand user has to be playing the song from somewhere and are using the speakers to their advantage.

A glyph formed on the ground beneath my feet as I put myself into a sprinter's position. It's all so simple now. Why have I been overthinking this problem? I don't need to look for the Stand user immediately. I can just track it!

The world around me blurred the moment I launched off.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared in front of me, saber in hand as they soared towards one of the speakers. With one slice, the audio equipment split in half, sending out one last spark before collapsing to the ground. Without pause, my Stand struck again, this time forming a slanted vein of smoothened Dust sloping down to the ground. I landed on it a second later, using the structure as a slide as it broke down behind me.

Did it work? I glanced towards the audience members closest to the destroyed speaker. They seemed to snap out of it for just a second, jerking their bodies for a moment. They groaned, lifting their hands to rub against their heads. Some of the individuals with foam in their mouths were spitting the vile substance out. Yes! I managed to free those people from the Stand! And I also know the Stand user can't possibly be there. Now I just have to whittle down the choices until I'm sure—

People started nodding back to sleep. My eyes widened. What? What happened? Why are they going back to sleep? I destroyed the speaker, so they should be fine! Unless… the other speakers! Of course! That's how stereo sound works after all! Maybe one speaker is broken, sure. But strategic placement of the other speakers ensures that there will always be coverage so that everyone can hear the song. I gritted my teeth. This is another complication that I wasn't expecting tonight. Still, I did manage to get some valuable information on the Stand's location. Definitely not there.

A high-pitched screeching sound registered in my ears. I pushed myself off of the slide, watching as the neon-colored tentacle smash into the structure a second later. Then I have to deal with this Stand as well. A growl escaped my mouth as  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** caught me and placed me on the ground. Now the mass of auditory soundwaves formed several limbs to attack me with. I have my work cut out for me.

* * *

"Ruby! Did you see that?"

I glanced at my sister. "See what?"

"Is it just me, or did that staircase just shrink back?" I raised my eyebrows. What did she just say? The staircase just shrank back? I glanced up and gasped. What the— it's like the steps on the staircase were folding up on themselves! Before it seemed like the stairs lead up for forever. But now, I can see another building far off in the distance. I glanced behind us. And the building we came from was moving ever so closer to us.

What in the world's going on? What changed? I know I didn't try to do anything this time around, so the only person that could've done something is— I gasped. Weiss. Did she figure out something about this Stand? That's awesome! I don't know what she's doing back in the real world, but it's not going to take long until we get out of here—

A gasp escaped my mouth. Wait a minute… I can see the end of the staircase! That's even better! We can just get to whatever this place is and hunker down until Weiss gets us out of here! Then if the Stand user's still standing after all of that, we can easily tag team it! This is perfect— Wait, what's on the edge of that next building? I squinted my eyes before letting out a moan of horror.

Everybody else behind me followed suit. Those white latex freaks were pushing at each other to get on the staircase. While several beings fell off to who knows where, there were dozens of them approaching us, letting that white saliva substance fly around and splatter all over the staircase. I could feel the blood drain from my face. Looking behind me everybody else had that haunted look on their face. Glade and Persi started sobbing next to us.

Yang in particular let out a cry of despair. "Oh gods, how did they get up there? I thought all of them were on the ground. It's like they can teleport or something!" I nodded my head, mouth slightly open at the horde approaching us. As far as I know, they probably can teleport in this Stand world place. Yang continued: "We have to run back!"

I nodded. Yup. There's no better way of putting that. We gotta go— I turned around and let out a groan. Two things immediately came to mind: one, the staircase behind us was shortening faster than before; two: the monsters were starting to stream out of the roof entrance. We're surrounded on both sides! We can't go forward, we can't go too far back. Defending would be useless considering how fast the staircase was shrinking. I'll get overwhelmed even with Rose, and we'll all be screwed. I can try punching a hole through the crowd, but they just have to grab me and it doesn't matter. How in the world are we going to make it out okay?

Come on, Ruby. I furrowed my eyebrows. There's got to be something I can work with. A little detail that I can take advantage of. Something that I can use to turn this around… I glanced over the side of the staircase. I know I can reform my body into whatever I wish. Maybe I can turn myself into a parachute or something and just glide down to wherever I need to be— What the? My jaw fell open when I saw on the side of the building an open window. Why is there an open window just over there?

My heart started pounding as an idea formed in my head. But it's still an open window. Where there's an open window there might be a place to hide away from these things. With that in mind, I ripped my right hand off and threw it towards the building. "Ruby!" Yang yelled as she pulled the two children close to us. "Why did you—"

"Don't worry, I have a plan." The flying hand exploded into petals the moment it smacked into the building, three windows right of where I wanted it to be. I quickly adjusted for that, sending the rose petals a few windows left before allowing them to reform around the windowsill as a hook. "I figured out a way to get out of here without having to jump off of this place. You see that window over there?" I nodded over to it while I reformed the rest of my fingers to become more rigid before slamming them into the staircase.

"Yeah— Wait." Yang shook her head. "You're planning on making it over to the room with the open window, right?" I nodded. My sister hummed. "I would say that's impossible, but at this point I've seen you do more. But what about the rest of us? How are we going to get across?"

"You'll see soon enough. But the moment I give you a signal, run across and get into the building, okay?" Before she could answer me, I threw myself off of the staircase. My body scattered into the wind as rose petals, floating towards the building. It didn't take long before they started recombining, forming a narrow platform roughly fifteen centimeters apart, connecting the staircase to the windowsill.

Bright light caused me to squint as my eyes reformed next to the window. From a quick glance, I can't find anybody inside. And the door's still closed. It's a decent safe spot for now. My mouth formed on the edge of the platform a moment later next to Yang and the others. "Come on! Let's go! We don't have a lot of time!"

I felt two sets of feet stepping on top of me a moment later. It didn't take long until they made their way into the room. I let my body dissolve away before allowing my petals to enter the building and reform my body. The moment I got control of my body back, I gave the room a quick glance. Nothing dangerous in here. I let out a sigh. "Whew, we should be okay in here. Until then, we have to barricade the doors and just hold out until Weiss can get us out."

"What the— You guys friendly?" Huh? I turned around to see the Achieve Men all huddled around a corner, each of them with a surprised look on their faces. R. Lazer stood up. "Did any of those… those monsters get any of you?"

We shook our heads. "No," I responded. "We're fine. How did you guys get in here in the first place?"

"I don't think we know ourselves." R. Lazer shook his head. "We all woke up in here. Like, one moment we were supposed to be playing  _Diamond Eyes_ , then just… boom. We're here. Then we saw the monsters attacking everyone from right outside our windows, and we just locked ourselves in."

"That's good. Let's keep it that way." I glanced at the barren room we're in before looking at the door. "I guess we can't do more to barricade this room any further, but we should be out of this place before long—"

Somebody groaned behind me. I whipped around in a flash, bringing Rose out to strike at… nothing. I narrowed my eyes. There's no one. What in the world? A cough escaped from Persi a moment later. I tensed up for a moment. Is… is he okay? Did he somehow get exposed to the Stand fluid—

Persi let out one last groan before he let go, falling off of Yang's back limp. "Oh gods!" I yelled, rushing to catch him. My efforts were in vain, however as he phased through my hands before disappearing entirely.

"Oh my gods! That kid just disappeared!"

I ignored him, instead staring at the empty spot between my hands where Persi should've been. No… no! How did he disappear? Did we enter another trap in this place? Oh gods, did I make a mistake?

Glade collapsed a second later, also disappearing into nothingness within an instant. Yang let out a cry. "Glade!" My mind whirred. Why were they all disappearing? What changed about the situation? I— I don't understand. I just… I just don't.

A chorus of groans and wails erupted from behind the door. The barrier flew off of its hinges a moment later, revealing a wave of the monsters. All of those blue eyes turned toward the six of us, all hungry eyes ready to eat us up. I swallowed, bringing Rose in front of me. "Yang, get behind me and Rose." I stared down the crowd. Weiss… I hope you're close. I don't know how long we can hold on.

* * *

A gasp escaped my mouth as  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** pulled their saber back from yet another destroyed speaker. That… should be all of them. Now there's no way for the music to continue affecting people.

I looked behind me. The audience in the back is definitely starting to stir. From a distance, I could make out some who were spitting out the foam collecting in their mouths. For one thing, I'm glad that none of these guys are going to die anytime soon. And as an added bonus, now I know for sure the Stand user isn't located in the back or in the center. The only people still out were either in the VIP seats or onstage. So whatever is causing this must be within that area. Then there's the issue of that object being able to create music, so it has to be able to do that. So what can create— Oh! I slapped myself. I'm such a moron.

It's the instruments. Of course it's the instruments, their main use is for creating music in the first place! Why would I think it's a scroll or something like that? The answer was in front of me the entire time! I honestly can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. I rubbed my head. So much for overthinking the problem. I ran over and leaped up onto the stage. The trail is faint, but I can just make out waves escaping from every single instrument, almost like spider silk. The symbol, which looked like a naked latex man with a crown, was printed on every instrument. All of them had an unusual brand name decaled onto them: M.N. Monster's **「** **HOCUS POCUS,** **」** designed by Trifa.

I balled up my fists. Now that I know what to go for, I can just smash them up and finally free everyone from this Stand.

All of the instruments glowed in response to my entrance. The wavy Stand floated in front of me, forming its neon tentacles to swing at me. It wasn't nearly as big as it used to be. It used to encompass the whole entire stadium. Granted, it's still big, roughly half a meter taller than me. But the effects must be weaker after I destroyed the speakers amplifying its music.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** formed next to me a moment later, slicing the mic in half. The Stand recoiled in pain, sending an arc of static flying towards me.

A wall of stability Dust formed in front of me, blocking the wild shot with ease.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** soon after flew out to slice the mic stand off from its base before handing it to me. Red crystals started to form on the end away from me while a thin wall of white Dust crystals grew behind me. I glanced around. Let's see, I see five more instruments: keyboard, drums, mic one, bass, and guitar. I have no idea how much time the rest of them have, so I have to make this quick. This shouldn't be as big as a problem.

Before the enemy could even react,  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** smacked the blunt end of the saber against the white Dust. I felt all of my organs slam forwards as the shock wave sent my body flying towards the drum kit. I gritted my teeth. It's not nearly as controllable as my glyphs, I have to admit. But I think I'm finally starting to get used to the power outputs needed to at least mimic my platforms. Now if only I can control it to the way I want it to go reliably, then this would be on par with my normal skills. Maybe even more useful, since I don't even need my own Dust and summoning wouldn't a problem. I shook my head. Don't think too far yet, Weiss. Baby steps.

With a hoarse scream, I jabbed the mic stand into the drum kit. Unsurprisingly, the fire Dust activated, blowing the instrument into bits and sending them flying in all directions. I gasped as a couple of them slammed into my torso. Ooh, oww… I spat out the blood pooling in my mouth as I glanced at what remained of the mic stand. The metal pole was a lot shorter than before, and what's left of it had peeled into something that almost reminded me of metal flowers. It's like one of those old Valean cartoons Whitley would insist we watch back when we were young. The one about the cat and the mouse? That show was really violent and ridiculous at the same time.

But back on track. I glanced back at the recoiling Stand. I'm thinking that striking the instruments with me this close is going to be a bad idea.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** smacked the remains of the mic stand and took it from me as a solid red crystal formed into the center. Almost like a lotus, now that I think about it. If I'm right, there should also be an internal crystal of Concussion Dust. Hopefully it'll just be enough to engulf the stage and nothing else— Oh gods, I really am taking the Nora method with my Stand. I winced. It's not like my Stand ability is good for much else right now. But to think that there would be a day where I would be decently matched with JNPR's demolition expert… I shook my head. Ugh, shouldn't think about that.

All I have to do at this point is leap off of the stage and throw this at the stage, and all of the instruments should be destroyed in no time. That's really it— Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the tentacle moving in a random direction. What in the world? Why would it do something like that—

Before I could ponder the question any further, the loose appendages whipped towards all of the band members, yanking all of them to their respective instruments and tying them up. I let out a hiss. Oh, come on! This thing is holding the Achieve Men hostage? Why this above all things? I gritted my teeth. Well, there goes the plan to just blow this entire place up. It knows that I can't do anything if the band's tied up and held hostage. My gods, this is the worst. At this point, I'm wishing that I had a firearm or something to shoot the instruments instead. A lot less collateral damage than my previous plan.

I shook my head before running towards the other mic. Screw it! I'm just going to have to run in there and smash them into bits myself! The wavy Stand reacted almost immediately, swinging one of the guys tied to another mic stand. From the looks of it, it might be the lead singer— R. Lazer, I think? A glyph formed underneath my feet as my Stand disappeared, launching me into the man. An oof escaped my mouth once I slammed into him, wrapping myself around him.

The Stand went berserk, swinging us around in an attempt to get me off. A grin formed on my face. There's no need for that; after all, I'm getting off on my own. I snatched the mic off from the mic stand. After all, all I need is this! I let go, allowing my body to fly across the room and slam against the wall. Now!  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared then, slicing the head of the mic clean off. Moments later a small chunk of yellow Dust formed over the hole I just made. From the looks of it, the Stand must've realized what I was doing. I let out one last huff before swinging the crystal into the wall. "Checkmate."

**「** **HOCUS POCUS** **」** swung its tentacles at me, but it was too late. I called back my Stand the moment I felt a jolt. A scream escaped my mouth as the electricity took hold in my arm, forcing my muscles to contract. Come on! Bear it for a moment! From the corner of my eye, I saw the lightning course through the plugs, entering the mixer and transferring it to the rest of the connected instruments. A screech escaped from the Stand as presumably the rest of its bodies were being electrocuted.

And before I knew it, the Stand disappeared, allowing the rest of the Achieve Men to drop to the ground safe. A grunt escaped my mouth as I landed. Ooh… It hurts to move my muscles. I can still feel the effects of the electrocution. With a bit of difficulty, I pulled the earplugs out. What followed was a chorus of groaning and relieved sighs. Whew. I rested my head against the wall. That's music to my ears.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 3/30/2018**

* * *

**Fox's Bizarre Adventure - Act 4**

"Oh, really?" J let out a long hum as we walked through the corridor. Well, everybody except for J, of course. He was floating through the air next to me. "So you're saying this Cross Continental Transmit System acts similar to the radio, but instead of transferring soundwaves, it transfers a series of numbers to create an image?"

"More like everything," I chuckled. "It can create voices, motion picture-like television programs— you had those back during the Great War, right?" He nodded. I continued: "Then you can read news articles posted almost instantly after an event has happened, discuss with Remnans around the world about common interests, buy and sell items, the list goes on and on. And all of that is accessible with a simple scroll. One of these…" I reached into my pockets before stopping and pointing at Coco instead. "What my team leader is carrying right now."

"Wow… to think that such a technology exists, that the descendant of those old computers that would fill up an entire room. All of that machinery, just to be a calculator for artillery. And just eighty years later it can do that and more while still fitting on a screen maybe two-thirds the size of my hand." J. let out a fascinated sigh. "It's impressive just how much the world has changed ever since my demise. All of these new changes… it would take years on its own to explore just how much the world changed." The figure of the ghost glowed with glee. "It's like archaeology, except I analyze the future based on my own knowledge of the past. I wonder if we can try something like this through some way of preserving bodies—"

"Okay, that's enough fanboying for now." Coco waved a hand in the direction of the bulky ghost. "We're coming up to another turn. Which way are we going this time?"

"You need to explain to me what a 'fanboy' is. But…" The ghost held up his left hand. "We should turn left here. The corridor here has a couple of branching paths, I'll tell you where to go while we're walking there. After… I suppose two or three branches, we should reach the emergency stairwells. And from there, it should be a straight shot all the way up to the first floor. Shouldn't be any more problems to deal with from there."

Coco's head bobbed with a satisfied hum. "Thank you." She sighed. "You know, you're not so bad for a ghost. You're nice. Well, at least nicer than how movies typically portray ghosts."

"Perhaps." The form of the ghost shrank a bit in bashfulness. "I don't really have any context to work from. But then again, I am exactly the same as what I used to be. The only thing different is the fact that I lack a physical form. It doesn't bother me too much. It would most likely be a lot worse if I still felt hunger and thirst. After all," he gestured to the dirty hall, "There isn't exactly much to eat in this place anyways."

"Mmm," I noted.

We continued on in silence. "You know," J. started. "If you don't mind the ramblings of a dead man, When you have an eternity to spend in one spot, it tends to get boring. So I made up my own ways of entertaining myself. And since I happen to be kept in a laboratory, I tend to do a lot of experiments." He raised his hands up. "Not any of the unethical stuff, mind you. That's something I didn't approve of back during the Great War. And it's not like I understand how to work with chemicals anyway. I'm first and foremost an archaeologist. I understand just enough chemistry to know what everyone was doing."

He gestured to the left as we reached another turn. "Make a left here. No, but my bread and butter is learning from the past. I was actually studying ancient Mistralian artifacts found in a caravan that was slaughtered by Grimm. Granted, I lost a couple of artifacts over the years, but ever since my death, I had the chance to study them as detailed as possible— Right turn right here. Now where was I? … Right. Over the course of eighty or so years, I've compiled everything I've noticed into a series of journals as well as personal diaries."

I raised my eyebrow. "That's interesting… but I'm not sure about the point of this ramble, J."

"Ah, but I was just about to get to that." The ghost floated a couple of meters in front of me. "Think of it as a last wish from the dead. On the third basement floor, there's an office containing all of my writings and musings. If it isn't too much of a burden, is it alright if you can make a quick trip over there and take all of my writing up to the surface?" J's head drooped a little. "There's nothing I find more depressing than knowing that there's hidden knowledge that can benefit the rest of society just… not there. After all, that was my job. Save what we know from the Grimm."

Coco's outline rubbed the back of its neck. "It depends. What you're asking isn't too hard, and we're heading back up anyways. I personally don't mind doing that for you after everything you've done for us, and I'm sure Fox won't either. Right?" I nodded. She continued: "The problem is mainly how much stuff we have to carry. It  _is_  eighty-plus years worth of research. We'll try to take as much as possible up to the surface, but I can't promise that we can recover all of the books. But don't worry about that. We'll get Headmaster Ozpin to send a team to get everything out."

J. nodded, his energy becoming contemplative at the sound of our Headmaster's name. "That's the unfortunate reality of it. Not everything can make it out in one go. Still, I do appreciate the gesture. Maybe one day somebody will come back down and reclaim the rest of the knowledge." His form beamed. "Even so, it still brings me joy that even a small portion of my work will be used by others. But let's focus on getting you two out of here first, shall we?"

"Right," I said. "So how far until we reach the stairs, J?"

"It shouldn't be too far from where we are." The bulky ghost turned his head to the right. "It should be straight ahead after this turn— What?"

"Huh?" J. was staring at the right turn we were supposed to make. Was there something wrong?

"Oh my gods," Coco muttered. "There's rubble blocking the way!"

What?  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** slammed its hands together. A gasp escaped my mouth. Filling in my outline of the world was a mountain of concrete chunks blocking the turn towards the stairway. Oh my gods…

J's form flickered in confusion. "This can't be possible. I know for a fact that this corridor wasn't collapsed earlier. Why would it be like this now— Unless…" The ghost waggled his finger in the air. "Now that I think about it, the structural integrity of the building should be weak after eighty years without maintenance. Why else would part of the bunker collapse under the weight of a few adults? I'm guessing that the rest of the bunker felt the shockwaves of the cave-in, and certain parts, like here, fell apart."

"Gods, that's not good." Coco groaned. "And it's best not to clear the pile. Last thing we need is everything collapsing on us and burying us alive." She swung her scroll towards the ghost. "J, isn't there another way around?"

"Of course, of course. What kind of self-respecting emergency route would have only one way to access the exit? We're going to need to turn back, but we can make it over there—"

"There's no point in doing that," I responded. "I just used my ability, and it looks like there's no way to get to that particular stairwell. There're more collapses ahead and behind us. Isn't there any other stairwells we can use?"

"Well yes, but this one is the fastest way up to both the office and the surface. It's going to take hours to get to the other stairwells, and even longer to climb up the broken steps." J. floated towards the rubble. "You said that you had other teammates out on the surface, yes?" I nodded. "It would be best that you two make it up as soon as possible before the rest of them decide to go down and look for themselves. And you two can't risk a possible collapse. This stair right here is— or was the quickest and safest way up."

"Gods…" Coco moved her hand to the base of her nose. "What did I do to deserve this?" She shook her head. "There has to be a way through, then. Fox, you figured anything out yet?"

I shook my head. "I'm checking the foundations right now. If they're strong enough, we can create a hole and run through before the pile falls down on us— Nevermind, scratch that plan. There are entire meters of debris sitting on top of this pile. We can't get through this way." I took in a deep breath. Come on Fox, think through the problem. There has to be another path that we're not considering.

Hmm… wait. I took in another deep breath. We're breathing. Now that seems pretty obvious, but if we're breathing, then that means there has to be a way to get air in. And while it's true that there wasn't a door when CFVY first came here, what Great War bunker wouldn't have a door to protect everyone inside? So if the doors were locked, the only way to get air is through— air vents!

My mouth dropped open as I rushed towards a wall. "Whoa, Fox!" Coco had her hands raised. "You figure it out?" I nodded, pressing my hand against the wall and sending vibrations through it. Come on… there has to be an opening somewhere… Just give me a little bit of guidance… There! In my head, there was an opening above me, covered with a slotted grate. While it looked real small, I bet it can squeeze me and Coco through without a problem.

"Coco, you see the vent above me? Help get the grate off for me. I'll boost you up." I cupped my hands and pushed her up the moment my team leader stepped on. "Is there anything holding it up?"

"Yeah, a couple of rusty screws." She yanked the grate off with no problems at all. "Good thing they're weak, though." I felt her weight leave my heads. The sounds of knees hitting metal registered in my ears a couple of seconds later. "Fox, are you sure that this leads to the other side of the rubble?"

**「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ** **」** tapped one hand against the air duct. "Definitely," I said as the air duct maze formed in my head. "Crawl all the way through and make two right turns. I'll follow close behind. J, you can phase through the rubble, right?"

He nodded. "I can."

"Good. We'll see you on the other side then." My guardian spirit flew out, snatching the ledge of the air duct. "And up I go." With a grunt I pushed off the wall and reached for  **「** **TERIYAKI BOYZ.** **」** My arms slammed into the air duct, and with a little bit of struggling I yanked myself into the tiny slotted hole.

I coughed almost immediately after entering. Whew! That's a lot of dust entering my lungs and my eyes— Ow. I rubbed my face as tears rolled down. You'd think that just because I'm blind my eyes wouldn't work at all, but that's not the case. My tear tracts work just fine, unfortunately. Doesn't really help now when it's so annoying— I wiped the tears away. It's not that long of a crawl. Coco's maybe a meter in front of me right now. Just get through the vents now, and you can worry about your tears later.

We managed to make it through without further incident. "Whew!" I leaped out and landed on my feet, brushing my clothes before turning to face the two figures in front of me. "Looks like we're across. Coco, you alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It was a piece of cake. Wasn't as bad as I thought. And plus, here's the stairwell right here! We're so close!"

Everybody turned their heads towards the fixture. That took longer than I expected, but here we are. Up those steps are freedom, sunlight, and everyone I love. After a long journey through this lab, we're finally close to the end. I smiled.

"Let's go, then."

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand Description:
> 
> 「HOCUS POCUS」 - The Stand plays a tune upon the user falling unconscious. If the tune is heard with perfect clarity, the victim will fall into a coma as their minds/consciousness are taken into the Stand, which takes on the form of a warped college campus. On said locations are monsters. If they catch the victim, said victim will become one of those said monsters in that world. In the real world, their brains will start degrading until the brainstem is rotted, halting all bodily functions and killing the victim.


	33. Under Pressure

" _Ruby._ "

One voice broke through to me: a quiet whisper in my ear. I snapped my eyes open and found myself floating in a sea of darkness. Huh? Wha— Am I unconscious? When did I black out again? Huh… I swear one moment ago I was in that room with the Achieve Men and Yang. Then the door broke open and— My head started to throb. Ooh… uh… I don't remember what happened after that. Did I faint? What happened to the rest of the group?

But until I can get any of my questions answered, I'm stuck in a familiar void. Just like a month ago. Something tells me that being here a lot isn't going to be good for my health. Yet here I am. I tried glancing around in the darkness. I couldn't make out anything, not even my own body. I know that it's still there. I'm touching my fingertips, and I can feel my entire body. Still, being here isn't really comfortable. I have no idea if this is still part of the Stand or not, but I need to figure a way to get out of here—

" _There's no need for that,_ " my Stand whispered in my ear. I turned around to see  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES,** **」** her white cloak shrouding over the rest of her body. My eyes widened. Huh? I could see her easily, like she was glowing even amidst this pitch-black world. Even so, I still couldn't really see my own body. The Stand nodded her head. " _I don't feel the presence of the Stand surrounding us. The threat is more than likely gone._ "

"Whew." I wiped off my brow. "That's a relief. So does that mean that everybody that was caught in the Stand made it out okay?"

" _That I don't know for sure._ "  **「** **RED LIKE ROSES** **」** floated in front of me. " _They might have made it out with their lives, they might not. There's no way to determine the situation in our current state._ "

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I tried to stand up, only to feel nothing pressing against me. It's like I'm floating or something. That didn't really matter to me. I still kept trying. "We can get out of here, then check on everyone! I have to make sure that Yang, Glade, and Persi are okay! Then there's Weiss, the rest of the amphitheater—"

" _I'm sure that they will be just fine._ " My Stand floated around me. " _And you'll be fine as well. Your body will wake up when it decides it's ready to wake up—_ "

"But what about everyone else? How do we know that they're going to wake up as well?" I started to fret. "I can't afford to wait, I have to do something now! Just sitting around worries me." I bit my lip. "What's going to happen to everybody in the stadium after a Stand attack this big? How are they related to the Cupid and the Arrow? Just how long will Vale have to suffer from these attacks until we take that Arrow away? The four of us are doing our best, but it feels like more people are suffering every time we fail to stop something like this."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "And then there's the person that might be controlling the Cupid and how I need to develop my silver eye powers to stop them—" I let out a soft choking sound as I felt my eyes start welling up with tears. "This is all too much… No matter how much I try, it feels like there's no end in sight… I know I need to keep moving onwards, but it's so scary doing this day after day…"

" _It must feel like that. But I know that you will be able to handle it._ " My Stand floated next to me, stroking my hair like how a mother would comfort their child. " _My existence says it all. You're stronger than you think you are. You have the willpower to fight for whatever you put your mind to, as do the rest of your friends. All of them serve as shining beacons of the Remnan spirit. You, too, are a beacon to the rest of these people._ "

She gestured to the darkness around us. " _Even when you're in nothingness and you can't tell where you are, you keep existing. Many give up in difficult times. You do not. Your humanity swims and fights in the abyss. It is one of your strongest assets in a time of crisis. When everything feels like this, when everything seems dark and hopeless, never lose yourself, never forget who you are and what you want. Your path is dangerous, but you know inside you won't stop. You are a hero inside, and the greatest of heroes stay firm and true to themselves until the end._ "

Yeah… I nodded. They do. In the old stories Mom used to tell me as a child, all of the heroes went through challenges and had to struggle to overcome them. None of them became heroes by walking through the world without any issues. They're heroes because they struggled and stood true despite all that, didn't they? I have to be like that, too. Someone who can push through no matter the cost. A person who is fearless. Someone who knows the dangers and the hardship but faces them anyway for others.

The world around me started getting brighter, bit by bit. In fact, everything was getting pinkish red, like I had my eyes closed while a light was shining in my face. I let out a long groan out of my mouth as my body started bobbing. Am I finally coming to?

"Oh my gods!" My eyes snapped open to see the leather backing in front of me. Wait a minute… I'm back in the amphitheater? I jerked up, nearly smacking Yang's head in the process. Oh! Sorry! Despite that, I took everything in. My eyes widened at the sight. We are! So does that mean— Weiss did it! She managed to free us from the Stand!

My sister interrupted my thoughts, letting out a loud groan from my left. Oh gods, Yang! I flopped back onto my chair as I pushed her into an upright position. Alright, from the looks of it she's still okay. I mean, I hope she's still okay. Before I fell unconscious in that world, the monsters hadn't gotten to us yet. And from a glance, she doesn't look different aside from the random strands of hair sticking up. Other than that, she looks fine.

Then there's my partner. I looked over at the empty spot to my right. I blinked. Where is she— right. She defeated the Stand herself. How did I forget that? I glanced around the room, trying to find the white-haired girl. Come on, where could she be? She must've been in the amphitheater somewhere.

Now that I'm getting a proper look around the area, I'm starting to notice the condition of the people around me. The best word to describe the mood is 'confusion.' Everybody's milling about, either checking on their friends, their family, significant other, and so on. Others were on their scrolls, typing something up. I let out a gasp as I glanced at the few people still sitting in their seats. They were clearly foaming at the mouth, but at the same time, it didn't look like they were moving. Those with foam in their mouths didn't make any attempt to spit out the liquid forming therein. I spotted the guy that was transformed in front of our eyes. He wasn't moving, with foam dribbling down the side of his face. Oh my gods…

My eyes diverted. Don't look. I felt my chest start to constrict. I did as much as I could do. He's going to be okay… right? Everyone still foaming at the mouth will make it out fine. I glanced towards the stage. Just stay confident that they'll be okay— Another gasp escaped my mouth as I spotted Weiss with her back pressed against the wall, occasionally twitching. I can make out her gritting her teeth as she squeezed her fists as tight as possible. What the— How did Weiss end up like this?

I tried leaping up to my feet, only to groan as I felt blood rush down to my legs. Pinpricks numbed my legs, forcing them to collapse due to my weight and causing me to bang my head against the seat in front of me. Ow… Ugh… I rubbed the side of my head. That… wasn't pleasant. How long have I been sitting here? Must be long enough that I can feel the pins and needles. My eyes narrowed as I considered my options. Do I wait for my blood to circulate and get my leg back to normal? Or do I weather through the numbness? … Is that even a question?

A groan escaped my mouth as I pushed forwards. Every step took a lot more energy than it should have. Oh geez! Agh, why did this have to happen now of all times? It's such a little thing to think about right now. I have to check on my partner! She has to be okay, right? Weiss managed to win against the Stand, the fact that I'm standing here right now proves it. So what happened?

"Weiss!" I yelled. She turned to look at me.

"Ruby! You're okay!" A smile crawled up her face as I made my way towards her. "Thank gods for that. It took some time for you guys to wake back up. I thought for a moment that I was too late and something happened to you."

"No, we're completely fine." I glanced at her stiff body. "But what happened to you? Why aren't you standing up?"

"… It's complicated." She turned her face away from me as her face started turning red. "Let's just say that in order to destroy the Stand user, I had to take the full brunt of a five gram electrical Dust crystal. And trust me, the side effects are not pleasant to deal with. But the damage isn't nearly as bad as it looks. It just caused my muscles to forcibly contract, like those muscle stimulators athletes use. I can still feel the current coursing through me." Her left arm stopped twitching. A couple of tests from Weiss showed that she had it under her control. "But I think it's finally starting to wear off. I'm going to be fine, Ruby."

"Whew," I sighed, wiping my brow. "That's good." I sat down next to Weiss. "We managed to stop them this time as well. By the way, who or what were the Stand users you were fighting against? I couldn't find anyone while I was inside the Stand."

"Hmm? Oh. It's something that was pretty obvious from hindsight, but it still pisses me off that I didn't realize it a lot sooner. It was the Achieve Men's instruments." She rubbed the bridge of her nose as she let out a groan. "The instruments somehow became Stand users and induced a coma in the entire audience through their music. But again, that still seems so odd. How could a set of instruments have a Stand? And how did the Achieve Men get them?"

I let out a hum as I thought about what Weiss said. A set of instruments were the Stand users the whole entire time? That… doesn't make any sense. At all. For one thing, instruments don't have souls like living beings do. So how would they be able to create a Stand in the first place? Hmm… maybe it's like a Stand that originally possessed stuff. The original user must've lost control of it, and the Stand stayed within the instruments forever. I narrowed my eyes. Is something like that even possible? Honestly, I have no idea anymore. Knowing that there were active Stand users before the Cupid appeared kinda throws another wrench into our progress.

"Hey, there's another one in the back!" The two of us looked over to see two paramedics carrying a person out on a stretcher. On the stretcher was a gray-haired girl with bangs covering her right eye with a black vest. Dark veins ran down her arms. But my eyes were particularly drawn to how burnt her skin was. Heavy burn marks ran down her skin in a zig-zag motion. I raised my eye. What in the world?

One of the paramedics gestured to another running towards them. "Searched for ID. This one's named Trifa Ar… Arg— Yeah, I'm not going to bother pronouncing her last name. It's a weird one." Weiss let out a hum at that. The man continued, "Okay, but we found her lying on the floor with a bottle of sleeping pills at her side. And what's weird is that she has electrical burns all over her body, but there aren't any exposed wires or anything of the sorts backstage, so no one knows where they came from."

The approaching medic shrugged, glancing at the woman. "Who knows? This one's a strange case. One thing's for certain. We need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. Come on, no time to waste. Get her outside and loaded into an ambulance. Anyone else?"

"Ruby," Weiss gasped, snapping her fingers in realization. "Trifa… I remember that name. It was on the instruments. Does that mean she's the user?"

"Well…" I looked at Weiss. "I guess. I don't really know what to say myself… But at least we can say that everything should be all fine now. The Stand's been defeated, and hopefully, nobody got too seriously hurt."

My partner let out an unsure sigh. "Um… I wouldn't exactly say that." She nodded over to the audience. Huh? I turned my head and gasped. At this point, there were more paramedics putting several other people on stretchers and lifting them out. All of those who were being attended to had empty stares in their eyes, still foaming at the mouth like before. People milled around their unconscious loved ones, trying to keep their composure. A few failed, openly weeping at the sight. I pressed my hand against my mouth. Oh my gods…

One figure managed to catch my eye. It was the same guy who was overwhelmed by the monsters back on the elevator. It didn't look like he got any better. I watched in horror as the emergency responders carried him out from the amphitheater. He had a woman follow him, the redhead tearing up as she stuck by the man's side. Is that what happened to those who got… transformed inside the Stand? Did they go into a coma? And at this point, I don't know whether it gets any worse or not!

I cradled my face in my palms. From the looks of it, maybe a third of the audience was being carried out via stretcher. That means there must be hundreds of people who are in critical condition. Did we really save everyone? How many of those people are ever going to wake up again to see their friends and family? Just how much damage did this one Stand cause? I know I just promised myself to weather through this, but I just can't stand to look. This— I shook my head. Did we fail Ozpin? Did we fail Vale?

A cold hand pressed against my shoulder. I looked up to see Weiss glaring at me. "Ruby. Don't blame yourself for the people who got hurt. This isn't your fault." She sighed. "I mean, the solution is so obvious now that I figured it out! If I had realized it sooner, then so many more lives could be saved."

"Weiss, you know that you tried your best—"

"Buh-buh-buh-bup!" Weiss lifted a finger. "I'm not done yet. I want to blame myself too, you know. But I know that it isn't my fault either. I did what I could as well. The Stand and the Stand user,  _they_  did this." Her eyes narrowed. "This is the level of danger things can escalate to if Stand powers get into the wrong hands. It could probably get worse. But Shouldn't that embolden us? We know the stakes if we fail. Now more than ever it's important to find the Cupid. And we'll make sure that nothing like this will never happen again."

I nodded. "You're right, Weiss. This is why we're still looking. We can't let dangerous powers like this hurt others." I stood up and offered a hand towards her. "Thank you. Can you stand up now?"

She shrugged, giving her arms a couple of test squeezes. "I hope I can. I can move most of my body, but it might still be a little hard to walk." She snatched my hand. "I could use your help if I still can't support my weight. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." With a long grunt, I yanked her up to her feet. For a moment she wobbled, sticking her hand out as her legs shook. But soon enough she managed to get herself under control. Okay, I guess we'll just get Yang, pick up all of our stuff, and then leave— Wait, is Blake not here? I raised my eyebrow. That's weird. I guess we'll go off and search for Blake then.

When we made it back to our seats, Yang was already sitting upright, wiping the drool off of her face. She absent-mindedly combed through her hair as we approached her. "Hey Yang," I started as I started rummaging for my items. "Are you awake now?"

My sister nodded her head. "Yeah… Did I really fall asleep during my favorite band's concert? That's kinda embarrassing. And the fact that I was drooling in front of them— Ugh. I didn't think I would actually fall asleep during the show—" She looked up before letting out a choking sound. "Oh my gods, why does it look like the entire place was trashed? And why are the Achieve Men on the floor? And— Gods, is Little J on the floor bleeding?!" She shot right up. "And why are there paramedics here? What in the world happened?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. How many times did I lie to Yang now about everything going on? Way too much to count at this point. "I'm not really too sure, myself. Weiss, can you tell Yang?"

"Huh?" She shot me a look of disbelief. I shrugged back at her. What am I supposed to say? I don't know what happened in the amphitheater. My partner started to sweat as she tapped her chin. "Well, if you must know, I suppose something happened to the power. Like an overload or something. From there… hmm… I don't know what happened to the other guys. Maybe there was a gas leak or something?"

"That's weird." Yang frowned. "If there was a gas leak or something like that, wouldn't we be evacuating earlier? Why do it now, when the damage has already been caused?"

Weiss shrugged. "A lot's unanswered." She looked back over to the stage. "But I guess the concert's going to have to end early. That's a disappointment." My partner snapped her fingers. "Oh! I just remembered, I never found Blake! It's like she disappeared from the amphitheater or something! We have to go out and search for her!" Weiss let out a low growl. "I am not happy about her leaving us. Once we find her, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!"

"Good idea!" I pocketed all of my stuff and Blake's items. "That's the best thing we can do right now. Let the responders handle everything here and find where Blake went off to." Yang opened her mouth as if to speak, but I held my hand up. "I'm sure she couldn't be far if she decided to leave us after all."

"But wait, what about the Achieve Men concert?" Yang gestured to the band on stage, who was starting to get up now. A couple of the crew members were jumping on to help the men out. "I mean I know I won the tickets through a contest, but shouldn't we wait to see if—"

"Excuse me, everyone!" We turned to see R. Lazer with a megaphone in his hands. His legs were still a bit wobbly. "I'm sorry for all of the technical difficulties. Due to a band member getting injured and our instruments breaking down, we have to cancel the show tonight. We'll release an official statement later tonight, but right now we need to recover. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and have a nice evening." And with that, he braced himself against one of the crewmates and started walking off stage.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," I noted. "I mean I think they'll send consolation stuff to everyone affected, so it won't be too bad. But we need to look for Blake right now. I have no idea where she could be, and she did leave all of her stuff here. The sooner we can get to her, the better."

The blonde girl sighed. "I guess you're right. It's a shame, though. I always wanted to go to a concert, and this happens. This is the worst!" I nodded, opening my scroll. The Headmaster is bound to hear about this soon. I don't know how he's going to cover this up, but he has to learn about something this big— Huh? A message from an unknown number? I clicked it.

_This is Blake,_ it started.  _I've just fought off a WF Stand user at some pet store. He said there was another user in the amphitheater. It's dangerous in there. Find him/her before anyone gets hurt._ I had to stifle a groan. Oh, great. I got the message too late for me to react. Ugh, and to think that we could've had a little bit more of a chance if I just had my scroll on me before the show started… I shook my head. No more self-doubts. I had enough of that. Let's just continue on our way.

"Oh yeah, I guess I should mention this," Yang started as she combed through her hair. "So I guess while I was sleeping, I had the strangest dream where I was stuck in this weird building with these two kids. Then you broke through the door," She pointed at me. "And told us to get to the top of the roof. After that, we watched a guy get— uh, surrounded by a bunch of monsters in these white latex suits. Then our Mom showed up and beat all of the monsters. And then we ran up a staircase that shouldn't exist and Weiss appeared in the sky and Ruby turned into a plank for me to walk into a building. Then we met the Achieve Men there." She rubbed her head. "It was a weird dream."

A sweat drop slipped down my face. "Yeah. That was a really weird dream. it's a good thing that it didn't happen in real life or anything. That would be scary—"

"Mommy! Mommy! It's them!" We turned to the voice and locked eyes with Glade and Persi. Persi was sitting in a wheelchair, and Glade was right next to him. Behind the two were their parents, both looking at us with curiosity. The two kids were pointing at us. Persi continued: "Those were the two girls who took care of us while you and Daddy were gone! The blonde girl carried me on her shoulders and the red girl was able to turn into flower petals! And then she had this cool angel who fought against the monsters and saved us all!"

"That's nice, dear," the woman responded, giving the boy a quick peck on the cheek. "You have a wild imagination, indeed."

The father turned to us and bowed. "I'm sorry if my son interrupted your conversation. He's very imaginative. He likes making up stories a lot ever since his… condition." The man nodded over to the wheelchair. "We'll be on our way."

"But Daddy," Glade whined. "It actually happened! I was there with Persi!"

"And that's nice." He leaned down to rub the girl's head, much to her displeasure. "But we shouldn't disturb those girls anymore. They have to do something now, okay Glade?"

Yang's eyes started widening. "Persi… Glade…"

"There's no problem!" I jumped in, waving my hands. "It's great that these kids like to imagine a lot! I'm sure they'll grow up to be good people!" I glanced and Weiss and gestured towards my sister. "But we have to look for a friend now, so goodbye!" Before Yang could say anything else, Weiss and I pushed Yang along, dragging her out of the building.

"Weiss— Ruby, stop!" The blonde started struggling against us. It didn't do much. "Those kids… this couldn't possibly be a coincidence. Persi and Glade, those were the exact two kids from the dream! And they described the dream perfectly! There's no way several people can share the same dream, so something must've happened! And then there's the fact that you were there, Ruby, and how Mom was there defending us. But something doesn't add up." I gritted my teeth. Come on, think of something to distract Yang with… maybe something about the Achieve Men—

"Ruby, I want you to be honest. Mom… that woman in the dream was actually a Stand, wasn't she?" At just like that, Weiss and I froze. It's like we were hit by a lightning bolt. Oh my gods… Yang knows? How does she know? We spent so much time covering up our actions, there's no way she could've known!

She took advantage of our hesitance, stepping away from us and turning around. "The pieces started fitting together in that dream world or whatever it was. You didn't call Mom by 'Mom' in that place, first of all. Why would you do that, especially after you said things about seeing her a couple of months ago?" I didn't respond.

She continued: "Then there was the reaction you had when you realized that everybody could see the figure. Like you didn't expect any of us to see it. That was pretty suspicious. And then there was the fact that you could only do your rose petal thing whenever this person was out. When I couldn't see her, you used your Semblance. I tried convincing myself that maybe your Semblance evolved, but today says otherwise. The fact that you could only do it with that woman next to you says a lot about who or what she actually is."

"Then yesterday I was confronting Weiss and Blake about the lava incident and the shop explosion. They weren't exactly the most subtle about trying to hide it." From the corner of my eye, I saw Weiss stiffen. "They were being dodgy about it, but if they have Stands as well, then it makes more sense, why they were trying to jump around the question instead of wondering what just happened."

"And there's a whole entire group like you in Beacon, am I right?" Yang held out her opened scroll. On it was the group chat between all of the Stand users we met in Beacon. I let out a gasp. How did she get access to it? My sister must've read my mind, because she continued: "On the day of the cafe explosion, Ruby showed me her scroll for some 'girl stuff.' And, like the big sis I am, I started fooling around after looking at the note and came across the chat. It caught my attention, so I added myself before Ruby noticed. You two, Blake, Jaune, Nolan, several other names I couldn't recognize…"

Yang pressed her hands against her hips. "I didn't understand what you guys were talking about with the Stands at the time, but today made it so much clearer. All this time, you guys have been fighting these kinds of enemies?" I couldn't say a word to defend ourselves. We're busted. The secret's out. Is there even a point trying to lie to her anymore?

I sighed. Time to face the music, I suppose. "Yeah." Everything became silent. I can feel my wrist itching. How is she going to react? Is she going to get angry? Break down like what happened before  **「** **BELFRY FALLS?** **」**

"Why?"

"Huh?" I looked at Yang. That… wasn't what I was expecting. "What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you try telling me about this?" My sister rubbed the side of her neck as she let out a sigh. She had a forlorn look in her eyes. "The rest of team RWBY was in the chat. I thought it was strange that I was the only one left out of this. And I tried hiding how I felt. But it hurts, reading the conversations and not understanding why we can't do this as a team." Her eyes started watering. "Why am I the one left out?" Oh… I held my hand to my face. Did she really feel like we abandoned her? And in a sense, we did! Oh gods, I didn't think of that!

"Yang, it's not like that at all." I went over and gave her a squeeze. "It's just— I was originally planning on going at this alone with Jaune. Blake and Weiss were a surprise, one that helped us in the long run. But we didn't expect them to become Stand users too. You know that time when we said that we set the room on fire with fire Dust? That was a lie. There was a tapeworm that became a Stand user and turned the carpet into lava."

"Yeah, I suspected it went something like that," my sister sighed, returning the hug. "I didn't think for a moment that there was any kind of fire Dust explosion in the room." She looked at me. "Ruby, it's time you came clean with me. Tell me everything that's going on. I know you want to keep me safe just like how I want to keep you safe. But none of us are safe anymore. It's like what you and everyone else on the chat said: it's most likely going to escalate from here. From now on, no more hiding, no more lies. Let's be honest with each other."

I glanced around. There were still a lot of people around us. "Later, when we're in our dorms or something. We can't let anyone else know that Stands exist. We're already pushing it with the massive amount of people that got hurt here. The last thing we need to do is cause a city-wide panic."

The blonde nodded, letting out a hum. "Okay. I guess I understand that."

"But before we can do that, we need to find Blake." I sighed as I fiddled around with my scroll. "When she messaged me, she said that she was at some pet store. But that was a long time ago. I have no idea where she could be right now. I mean I guess I can call the pet store, since she did use their terminal to send the message. But… hmm… should I?" I tapped a finger on the home button on my scroll. "Yeah, I'll just try and call them up—"

"Ruby, hold on for a moment," Weiss interrupted, pointing at a certain individual. She squinted as she stared into the distance. "I think that's her over there. On the sidewalk right there."

I squinted at the person. "Maybe? It sorta looks like Blake, but I'm sure she wasn't wearing that oversized t-shirt with a dog decal when we first came here. And she wouldn't act so… meek." I pointed at the woman, who looked like she wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. "That doesn't seem like our teammate one bit. Are you sure that's Blake?"

Before Weiss could answer my question, I noticed a familiar black bow sitting on top of her head. Oh my gods, that is Blake! I let out a cheer before waving at the approaching girl. "Hey Blake! Over here!" The girl flinched at the sound of her name as she turned towards us. "What are you waiting for? Come on, get over here! I have to give you back all of your stuff!"

Blake had a pout on her face as she made her way towards us that screamed of displeasure. Instead of her normal wear, she had a dull gray shirt with an aquamarine dog decaled on top. The canine was actually made out of words. What did they call it? … Visual poetry! Yeah, that's it! But the canine had the words 'I love petting puppies' repeating over and over throughout the dog's happy head. I tried to hide a snicker as I took her stuff out. "Hey, Blake. You have a nice shirt—"

She held a hand out as her bow sank into her head. "Don't. Say. Anything. It was either this or walking around town with my clothes stained with blood. And I'd rather not get profiled by the police again, so can you drop the subject?" I nodded as I tried to hold my laugh in. She continued: "So where's the Sta—" She stopped when she noticed Yang next to us. "—the enemy? What happened to them?"

"Okay, yeah… I need to catch you up on some things." I pointed at my sister. "First, it's okay to say Stand in front of my sister. She figured it out." Blake's eyes widened. I held a hand up before she could say anything, though. "We'll talk about it more once we get back to the dorm, where it's safer to talk. Second, Weiss managed to handle the Stand user, so we're fine on that account. Right now we have to get home and think about everything that's happened so far. So, is that fine with everyone?"

The rest of my team nodded their heads. "Well, okay then!" I started towards the airbus station. "Let's go!" With that, I pulled out my scroll and started typing up a message to the Headmaster about the situation.

"Oh hey, Blake," Yang started from behind me. "I didn't know you finally accepted dogs as the one true pet. Are you ready to accept your lord and savior Zwei into your life?"

"Shut up." Blake let out a whine, pushing her face into her hands. "Please, if there's any God up there and available right now, please, just end my misery."

* * *

It must've been night by the time Team RWBY finally arrived back in the dorms. Yang let out a long sigh as she jumped onto her own bed and started unlacing her boots. "So, you guys promised that you'll tell me everything once we made it back." She yanked them off with little effort. "Tell me everything. What's this about? Why fight?" I glanced at the text I got back from the Headmaster.  _Bring her into the search,_ was all he said. Okay then.

I told her everything. From the beginning, when I was hit by the Arrow, to the day I should've been killed by that ancient Ursa, what we know about the Cupid, and all of the fights that happened during our search for the Arrow. I told her everything. I didn't spare a single detail. After all, if she was going to be fighting at a disadvantage, it's best she knows just what she's up against. Yang kept a straight face the entire time, nodding throughout the explanation.

A groan escaped Yang's mouth as I finished speaking. "Well… You weren't kidding when you said that this was complicated. I guess I can see why you wouldn't want anyone to know about what's happening." She combed a bit of her hair. "You said that only Stand users can see other people's Stands, right? Well, I saw yours when we were in that other Stand's body. Maybe I have a Stand too."

"Hmm… I don't think so." I let out a hum. "Glade and Persi were able to see my Stand as well, but that doesn't mean anything. It could be the side effect of that Stand's ability. Something that allows you to see Stands there, but not here."

"There's only one way to know for sure, Ruby." Yang squared her shoulders. "Summon your Stand and throw a punch at my face."

"Wait, what?" I let out a choking sound.

"Yang, you can't be serious," Weiss sighed from her desk. "Why in the world would you want Ruby to punch you in the face?"

My sister gestured to me. "Well, think of it as a simulation. If I can see the Stand, I'll try to block it. A punch is a lot safer than the weirder attacks, that's for sure. And plus, I can just tank it with my Semblance! Trust me, this will work!"

The room lost all sound, going silent with contemplation before I cleared my throat. "… I mean, you're not wrong. It is a lot safer than other things we could do to you. At the same time…"

"What?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "What? What is it?"

Rose appeared behind me, causing my sister to twitch. I narrowed my eyes. So she can still see the Stands? No, it has to be something else. There's no way one Stand can give an entire crowd Stands of their own. The only way somebody can get a Stand is through the Arrow! Then again, there's only one way to be sure about this. Rose shot towards Yang, driving a fist towards her face.

I stopped right before Rose hit my sister in the face. All Yang did was blink in confusion. Huh? How did she not notice the white fist right in front of her, especially after she seemed to notice the Stand appearing? There's no way she didn't see it coming. Plus, why in the world would she pretend that she didn't notice? After going through all of that effort to suggest this in the first place?

Yang raised her eyebrows. "Hey, Ruby. What was the thing you were going to say?"

"You don't see what's going on right now?" I made Rose wave her hand in front of the blonde.

"Was I supposed to see something?" She let out a hum of confusion. "I don't see anything. Wait a minute…" Her face morphed into a frown. "Were you trying to do something with your Stand?"

"Yeah," I responded. "In fact, Rose is in your face right now. There's a fist maybe a couple of centimeters away from you!"

"What? No way." Yang shook her head. "I'm sure I would've seen it moving. There's no way your Stand is in front of my face right now— Hmph!" My sister was interrupted by Rose pressing a hand against her mouth. "Hmmhmm." Yang tried reaching in front of her, only for her hands to phase past my Stand.

The room went silent as my Stand let go of Yang. "So I guess you can't see my Stand after all," I sighed. "I don't think you have a Stand at all."

Yang frowned. "Huh? No, that can't be right. I know for a fact that I felt something right after you decided to pause your speech. Try it again." I did, calling my Stand back for a moment before summoning her again. My sister twitched again. "Yeah, there it is again. There's no way that whatever I felt was just a coincidence. Did you just summon your Stand again?"

I nodded my head. "But that's so odd, even compared to the stuff we've seen before. For some reason, you can tell when somebody summons their Stand, but you can't actually see it." I raised my hand towards my chin as I hummed. "So we know you're not a Stand user at the moment, but you can still notice something happening when we draw ours out. But how in the world are you able to do that? I know for a fact that I don't notice it." I turned towards the other girls. "What about you two?" They both shook their heads. "Hmm… could it be due to your exposure to that Stand back at the concert? There's no other way to know, unless we bring another random person in on this secret."

Blake stepped in. "Well at the same time, we do know something new this time around: Yang's able to at least sense when a Stand attack is about to happen. At least she isn't going to be completely defenseless against any Stand users we go up against."

We all let out sounds of agreement. "True," I noted. "It is a lot better than being completely defenseless. And plus, Stand users aren't the most important thing to worry about." I tapped the edge of my bed. "It's the Cupid that we need to focus on. And you don't need to be a Stand user in order to see and fight against the Grimm baby. I think that bringing in Yang would help us with our search."

I turned towards my sister. "Look. There's a reason why everyone here decided to keep the Stands secret. They're dangerous to Vale. You already know what it's like to be affected by a Stand ability, between what happened way back with Nolan to just a couple of hours ago. Even if you're just here to help us with finding the Cupid, none of us can keep you safe if a Stand user targets you. And chances are, they will. After all, Stand users attract other Stand users. We  _will_  run into another one eventually, and there's no way for you to defend yourself when they do come along."

Yang let out a sigh. "Yeah, I know. But it's no different from me just being your teammate. I'm probably going to be a target either way just by being with you guys. At least I can help somehow." My sister gave us all a confident grin. "And if me being here helps you guys stop this Cupid this once and for all, I'm all up for it!" Yang pressed her hands against her hips. "So, what's the situation right now?"

"Well, it  _was_  going well," Blake started as she tugged at her collar. "Until this evening. There's something we need to worry about, everyone. I already said to Ruby that while everyone was at the concert, I was being attacked by a different Stand user. He was a White Fang member."

It felt like the room got a lot colder with that admission. Weiss let out a sound of confusion. "What?"

Blake nodded her head. "It turns out a member of the White Fang was trying to draw me out from the theater in order to capture me, while they had another Stand user attack the theater. They wanted to try and take out all of us. I managed to defeat the user ambushing me, but while I was hiding from him, he muttered something about an attack that took months to prepare. Something about an attack that will go to waste if he doesn't finish us off."

I paled when I heard that. A planned attack by the White Fang? The Faunus girl looked up towards the rest of us. "The White Fang are ready for something, and they needed us out of the picture. I think whoever's controlling the Cupid is going to make their move soon. Really soon."

The room went silent. "Oh gods," Weiss muttered. "Those terrorists are planning to do something during the Vytal Festival. I mean, it makes sense why they would choose now of all times to attack. After all, the event's only a couple of days away, plus there's going to be a large gathering of people. If there was an attack during an event of peace… everyone's going to panic."

"Drawing the Grimm in to destroy the city. The concert attack is just the beginning." I narrowed my eyes. "That sounds about right, but then what's the point of doing that now? The Headmaster said the mastermind needs a certain Stand user to bring them back into Vale. Attacking the populace ruins their chances of finding or creating that user. What's the point of destroying the city, then? Unless—" My eyes widened.

"—Unless they figured out who they needed," Weiss finished. "Maybe they found the Stand user, but they can't do anything to kidnap them. Maybe they already have the user, and they're going to flood the city with Grimm and start destroying life as we know it. But whatever it is, the enemies think they are getting close to succeeding." The quietness of the room said it all. "We need to act quickly and stop this attack, and take the Arrow from the Cupid before anything else can happen. We need to do everything we can to thwart their plans until we figure out the culprit of all this."

I nodded. "Right. Which means that we need every second possible to figure this out. We can't be wasting our time at the Vytal Festival. Even though I want to participate in it so much…" I pouted for a moment before shaking my head. Well, there's always next time, I guess. "Everybody, gather around." The rest of team RWBY followed. "This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

What an eventful day. I let out a long breath as I signed the last document needed for the Vytal Festival. And with that, everything's been taken care of. The Vytal Festival is going to go ahead as planned. On one hand, that should be a reason to celebrate. After all, one of the hardest and most tedious tasks involving the Amity Colosseum has finally been dealt with. There's nothing I would like more than to enjoy time off and relax for once.

But my troubles are unfortunately far from over. Particularly concerning was Ms. Rose's message about what happened in downtown Vale. I sighed as I took a sip from my mug. So she's ready to make her move. We're running out of time, then.

The stage is almost set for her last push, and I might be too late to do anything about it. Another sigh escaped from my mouth. Team RWBY is a marvelous team, but even they can only do so much. We are so close, though… we have a strong picture of the suspect. And I'm now free to join the rest of them in finding the Arrow. If only we had just a little bit more time…

Right then and there the elevator opened up, revealing James. "Ozpin," he started, walking towards me with a purposeful stride. "My men just got news that VNN was going to run a story about a potential terrorist attack until you stepped in. I won't beat around the bush: I know it was orchestrated by the White Fang, and that they did this with Stand users. If they have the power to do this, there's no doubt they're going to do it again, and there's still one event coming up with a massive audience. Ozpin, continuing with the Vytal Festival is suicide!"

"Of course it is. I can see that just as well as you do." An awkward silence enveloped the both of us.

"… And?" James gave me a frown. "Shouldn't you cancel the Festival, or at least postpone it until we can find the Cupid?"

I shook my head. "It's not that easy."

"How is it not easy? Ozpin, do you not understand the lives at stake—"

"I'm fully aware of that, James. But have you considered that we are in a no-win situation?" That got him to pause, but only for a moment. I continued, "Think about it. Our mystery opponent has enlisted the White Fang to attack. And they will attack. If we go on as planned, they'll attack the Amity. If we cancel the Vytal Festival, it'll be a lot worse."

"'It'll be a lot worse.'" Ironwood let out a short, sarcastic snort. "How would canceling an event be worse off?"

I sat up. "We'd have to explain to the other Kingdoms and their Councils why we canceled the event. I can't tell them about the Stands, they won't believe me. You had difficulty believing me, after all. Any reasonable lie we can come up with might not be acceptable to the Councilmen. The event is two years in the making, as it has been every two years without fail. They'll investigate the situation, and if a leak of the Stands appears in the news, everyone will panic. Then there's the sheer amount of tourists staying in the city right now. If the Vytal Festival gets canceled, negative emotions form, they'll gather around and complain. That's another crowd the White Fang can attack to maximize the negativity in the city. And where negativity forms…"

"The Grimm follow," James answered, eyebrows furrowing. "Hmm… That would be… not ideal for us. But do we have to take this risk?"

"Yes. If we keep the Festival going, we can predict where the attack will be: at the Amity. It narrows our list of targets, and I can deploy my users with ease. They'll root out the enemy while using the festival as a cover, and protect the civilians if an attack occurs."

"Hmm… So you propose not backing off in the face of danger, but instead fortifying our position and letting the enemy stumble into laid traps. It wouldn't be a bad plan, if it weren't for the Cupid." James tapped a finger against the side of his leg. "There's no way your agents can keep this up if the Cupid keeps making users. They're going to burn out, even if you keep the Amity safe. This is a war of attrition that you'll lose. And that is unacceptable!" He slammed his hand against the table, causing me to blink in surprise. He stared right at me. "We cannot let this go on any further. You'll hit a breaking point, and I'd rather not have that happen. Let me help you in this search for the Cupid."

I sighed. "James, we already went over this. Having an army mobilize right now will unnerve the populace—"

"I'm not talking about mobilizing my army." That got me to raise an eyebrow. Does he really...? Knowing he had my attention, the General continued: "I've put a lot of thought into what you said about acting with discretion, and I've come to the conclusion that… you're right." He pressed his lips into a fine line. "We can't afford to be too bold or act in a decisive manner. As much as that displeases me, I don't want to risk a retaliation attack during the Vytal Festival, or any other action that could set the enemy's plans into motion. So I have a proposal for you."

"Oh really?" I steepled my fingers. "I'm interested. What is it?"

"Well, I'm thinking about covering our bases in terms of surveillance." He tapped his finger on my desk. "I don't know about  _your_  secret task force, but from the looks of it, they don't have strong skills in acquiring information. Turns out I have an operative who specializes in just that. Her skill set will drastically help when it comes to questioning any potential suspects."

"Hmm… you have a point there." I cleared my throat. "Having somebody with those kinds of skills will be especially helpful, considering that we're already setting up a suspect list. At the same time, I would prefer to make absolutely sure that any kind of questioning doesn't get out of hand, especially if the person being interrogated is actually an innocent party. All of Remnant is still sore over the torture controversy that Atlas got itself into a couple of years ago."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that. But trust me when I say that this person is not going to raise concerns like last time." James finally decided to take a seat. "Let's just say that my operative is very… persuasive when it comes to getting information without the need to resort to violence. People will be willing to give information to her before she can even lift a finger."

"Okay. Say that I decide to take you up on this deal," I started. "What would your terms be in this case?"

"It should be simple." The Atlesian officer laced his fingers. "If Atlas helps out with the search for this Arrow, then both Vale and Atlas get joint ownership of the artifact. Atlas has the right to access and perform experiments on the Arrow in order to test its full potential." He held his hand up when I tried to speak. "Now, this doesn't sound like the best idea, I have to admit. There's a reason that we don't do any testing on the Relics, after all. Our civilization might totally collapse if even one is destroyed or stolen."

He continued: "But that's not the same thing for the Stand Arrow. It's a destructive force, surely no one would miss it if it were destroyed in an experiment. Our lives don't rely on the Arrow still existing in the world. Plus, if we understand the mechanics of how the Arrow works, then we might be able to put it into application. Just think… a world without Grimm. All because we were able to understand and harness this power." James gave me a glance. "Don't you agree, Ozpin?"

I sighed. "Admittedly, it would be nice if the populace never had to face the Grimm ever again. And you make some valid points. But, to quote the Mistralian family who originally created the Arrows: 'The spirits bound to this weapon are beyond understanding.' We as a society aren't ready for Stands yet. Not everybody can wield them. And Stands can't be seen by anyone except for Stand users. What will the world think about those users? How would they react to the idea of a force that can attack them without them noticing?"

"There isn't much of a difference between Huntsmen and Stand users, Ozpin." The General adjusted the lapel on his uniform. "The concept of Huntsmen got a lot of flak back when it was first proposed. People didn't know what would happen if the Huntsmen decided to take advantage of their powers. But look at us now! Such a transition would be virtually identical for Stand users."

"But here's the difference between the two: Stand users have anonymity within the normal populace. They can use their powers and no one would be the wiser aside from other Stand users. Having the ability to use your powers without getting caught is a boon for anyone who wants to become a career criminal, you know. You would need to make everyone a Stand user, and at the end of the day, we only know of one Arrow. It'll take forever to make that transition, and that doesn't account for those who might be rejected by the Arrow. What would happen then?"

"Well, we can't just do nothing when we have a potential unknown in our hands!" James shot up from his seat. "What do you suggest we do with it once we get it, bury it somewhere?" My silence said everything. He rubbed his face while he groaned. "You can't be serious."

"I am. There's a Mistralian family whose sole task is to retrieve and protect the Arrow with their lives. I happened to meet one of them recently, and they promised that they can keep it safe and locked away from the world, where no one can ever take advantage of it ever again." I leaned back in my seat. "While we haven't officially made an agreement, the family isn't going to be happy with the thought of the Arrow being at risk again after losing it for so long."

James narrowed his eyes at that. "Ozpin, that's just going to make the problem worse. They lost the Arrow before, and because of that, we're in this problem right now. What's not to say that they won't lose it again in the future? Maybe they'll keep it safe for a few years. Hell, maybe we'll be dead for generations and there might not be another incident. But they might lose it again, and when they do, our descendants will have no idea how to handle this problem, just like how we're in this rut right now. We need to know just what this thing can do, for the sake of the next generation."

"And give this power to people who may or not be trustworthy? It's too much of a risk." I sighed as I tapped my desk. "Let's put a hold on this topic for now. I want to accept your help, but the implications of the research that you believe has to be done are unacceptable in my eyes. We need to negotiate this further."

"You don't have the time to do that." James stood up and adjusted his uniform. "I'll be performing my own operations, but with just the one operative. She won't interfere with your work. At least, that's what I hope." He glanced down at me. "I know we have a strained relationship. We haven't exactly seen eye to eye with a lot of issues. I'll promise you one thing, though: no matter who claims the Arrow, we will have this talk again. But we can't just bury the past and hope it doesn't come back to bite us." And with that, he left without another word.

I groaned, wrapping my head with my arms. He doesn't get it, does he? All it takes is one wrong ability. Not even one wrong person, just one wrong ability to manifest and we'll be in even bigger trouble than right now. He has to understand at least that. I hope he figures it out before he makes a fatal error. Another groan escaped my mouth. And I dearly need his help… He means well, but he hasn't seen what I've seen. Any Stand ability can become deadly in the hands of someone determined enough. My friends, my family… we played with the fire that was the Arrow, and we caused this Stand threat. I'm the only one left out of everyone else. I need to finish this.

The Arrow has to be returned back to the earth and buried away. There's no other way.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ =**  **4/13/2018**

* * *

**Fox's Bizarre Adventure - Act 5**

Compared to all of the climbing we had been doing, walking up a few flights of stairs was a breeze for all of us. Before we knew it, the three of us were standing on the third floor. "My office is the one to the right," J noted, pointing in that direction. "It's the closest room to the stairwell."

Coco nodded. "Got it." We started over to the room. "So, anything you want us to save in particular?"

The ghost hummed. "That would be the million-lien question… there are so many discoveries that I want to have brought up to the surface, but I know for a fact that not all of them can see the light of day. There are just too many to pick from. Even I can't name them off of the top of my head. The best option is to go in there, look through the contents to refresh my memories, and then decide what's the most important ones to bring up."

"Right." I delved back into my head. The sounds of our footsteps bounced through the corridors, revealing several doors coming up. "You said the first door we come across?" The ghost let out an affirming hum. I nodded my head as we walked to the entrance in question. "This is the one, right?"

"Ah, yes." J floated over to the door and ran his hand across what might have been a name plaque. "So much research has been done in this room, so many discoveries over what I now know to be years… Please excuse me as I reminisce." The ghost let out a sigh, his figure glowing in my mental image. "It feels like a dream come true, to finally be able to share my knowledge with the next generation." His hand sank into the door. "I'm done with that. Come on, let's see which pieces of knowledge get to escape this crumbling building."

With that, the ghost walked through the door. "Well, we're here now," my leader sighed as she reached for the doorknob. "Let's see what kind of research the guy's been doing."

She pushed it open, letting out a whistle as she saw what's inside. I couldn't help but let out a hum of my own. J wasn't kidding when he said he had a lot of research. I can make out an outline of stacks and stacks of composition notebooks lying all around the desk. My forehead wrinkled. From the bumps created from the lazily stacked books, there has to be at least a hundred of them. That's a lot of books to look through, especially since only Coco and J can actually read them.

On the table, it wasn't much better. Instead of composition notebooks, there were what looked like several artifacts on the table, all surrounding a single notebook. I guess that's J's current work.

"Wow…" Coco gasped. I turned to see her Aura peer down at the open notebook. "I didn't expect you to be such a good artist. It's almost an exact one to one copy of the artifacts on the table."

The ghost glowed with delight. "Thank you," he started. "But my art skills aren't nearly as good as you think they are, not anymore. After all, I can't grasp a pencil in my current form." He waved his hand through a nearby lamp, phasing through it without a problem. "These aren't  _my_  drawing skills, exactly."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "I can't really judge for myself, since I can't see and all that. But how did you draw these figures then?"

"Why, with my powers, of course." The vines appeared around the ghost before snapping for a nearby pencil. Coco flinched back in surprise as the vines lifted the writing utensil up. "You see, something interesting I've learned about being dead is that while I myself can't interact with the world, my  **「** **HERMIT PURPLE** **」** can. I'm not quite sure why, if you want the truth. I can't exactly test it out when I'm the only dead user, you understand?"

I nodded. "Okay. So, what is this particular book about? The one that is on the table?"

"Hmm… I believe that one was on the artifacts my group managed to get way back, before the Great War even came to pass. We came across a Mistralian caravan that had been attacked by Grimm. This was during that era when Mistralians were still actively setting on Sanus. Because I couldn't let Mistralian history fall into the hands of bandits and whatnot, I decided to take them, observe them for myself, and then give them to the Mistral embassy. Long story short, that didn't happen, as you can clearly see." He glanced over at Coco. "Do you want her to learn about… what we can see?"

I turned to face my leader, who had feelings of confusion swimming through her Aura. Should she? About the spirits that give us these unusual powers? About the curse that is plaguing the students of Beacon?

A sighed escaped my mouth. "Coco, do you want to know? I honestly don't want to tell you about everything. It's not because you're not capable of handling it, but it's something I don't want anyone to learn, for their own sake. I want to keep this secret, but after everything that's happened, I think I should at least ask."

Her Aura wavered. "What? Well… hmm. This is all so sudden. It's—" Her shoulders sagged. "I don't know… I mean, the idea of it definitely catches my attention. Your Semblance isn't what you say it is, right?" I nodded my head. "This makes so much sense now that I think about it. I thought it was weird that you have scars so early in life, even when you unlocked your Aura real early." She shook her head. "I should know what's happening to my teammate. What kind of leader would I be if I didn't? But…"

She sighed. "Your face says it all. You really care enough to keep me and the rest of the team out of this, whatever it is. So, I'll walk out of the room and let just you and J talk. But Fox." She wagged a finger at me. "Once everything is over, when you're no longer worried about the situation, you need to come clean with us." I can 'see' the smugness collect around her. "You can leave a girl unsatisfied, but not for long. I'm going to pry it out of you eventually."

"Okay. I'd rather tell you when the danger's over anyway."

"Sure thing." Coco turned around, throwing a hand in the air while sashaying towards the exit. "Don't take too long, Fox." With that, she left the room.

"Are you sure you don't have some kind of relationship with her?" J asked. "It really seems like she is interested in you."

"No relationship, I assure you. That's something she likes to do to tease me and the team."

"Really?" The ghost hummed. "Standards must have gotten really lax ever since I died."

I shrugged. "It doesn't matter too much. So, what are the items on the table for?"

"They all relate to a missing artifact that my friends and I dubbed 'The Arrow.' All of these artifacts, one way or another incorporate a metal that came from a meteorite that landed in Mistral." He flew over the set. "All of the artifacts have unusual abilities, but the Arrow has an ability that Vale should be particularly worried about: the ability to grant whoever is cut by its arrowhead an ethereal being."

"A Stand."

The ghost nodded. "I didn't think about it much a couple of minutes ago, but being back here made me realize something. Back in my day, we kept a good eye on the Arrow the moment we brought it back to this bunker. Not a single other person other than my friends and I were cut by the Arrow. So, I should have reason to believe there shouldn't be any other Stand user in Vale. But the fact that you're here and you aren't from Mistral says one thing: the Arrow was somehow retrieved and is being used to create new Stand users."

J's energy became somber. "There's no doubt about it. Somebody has the Arrow now. Why else would there be more users in Vale? Somebody's been making more while I was dead. Someone who is unafraid to use it for their own ends. I don't know who it is, but I have a feeling it'll be a problem."

He held out his arm. "I used to be able to perform clairvoyance. My abilities were extremely helpful in tracking and doing predictions a day ahead of time. But my death cut me off from those powers. Now it's just the Stand form itself. It's a shame, especially considering I could easily figure out the identity of this mystery person were I alive."

I nodded. "That is a shame. But I don't understand something. What does this explanation have to do with the items?"

"I was just about to get to that. There's a solution to this problem that doesn't involve me, and I just realized it." His head turned towards the table. "I was looking at each of the artifacts, but this one caught my attention." J's vines lifted an amulet by the old, weathered rope.

"Huh? There's some vibration inside…" I reached for the amulet and turned it over. My thumb felt a glass surface, and there was something spinning inside it almost constantly. What is this? I rubbed my thumb, feeling out arrows and letters: N, E, S, W. Wait a minute… "Is this… a compass with a spinning indicator?"

The figure nodded. "It is. This is the interesting thing about it: I only learned about its function when you and Lady Coco fell into this bunker. Before, I was puzzled with how it worked. I thought it was a perpetual machine. However, around the same time as you fell in, I happened to be holding the compass with my Stand. And well, there's only one way to show you two." The vines extended towards me. "Take this."

I did. All of a sudden, the whirring of the compass stopped. Huh? J started speaking again. "Focus, Sir Fox. Where is the indicator pointing towards now?"

My mental map focused on the two-sided indicator. Which way is north supposed to be? "Uh… I'm blind, so I can't tell what's north, J. It's either pointing at you or me."

J floated over to the left. "Where is it now?"

I let out a hum as the point away from me drifted along with the ghost. "Moving… left, following you. But that can't be right. A compass is supposed to show where north happens to be."

It clicked in my head. "No… It's not directing me towards polar north. This compass is a tool pointing towards people. To other Stand users."

The man nodded. "To me. It's a coincidence at best. I can't really prove it with just the two of us. But I have little doubt that whoever holds onto this can find the closest Stand user." The vines nudged my fingers closed around the amulet. "And now that I know what this thing can do, I must pass this on."

The vines twisted around, snatching something off the table before offering it to me. "Take this notebook and the amulet. That's the most important thing you must bring out of this laboratory, if nothing else. Whatever research I have doesn't matter as much as you finding the rogue Stand users. Give this to your Headmaster and tell him exactly what this thing is for. As for the rest of this…" J turned to face the stack of books. "Which one… This is more difficult than I thought it would be… Take whatever you can carry."

I nodded, taking the items from J. "I'll do it. You have nothing to worry about. I'll protect these no matter what." I turned towards the Aura behind the door. "Should I bring Coco back in?"

"That would be great."

The next few moments were a blur. Coco and I each grabbed a giant stack of notebooks, taking care to not ruin the aged paper inside. Before we knew it, we stood outside the office. The ghost gave us a nod. "Thank you Lady Coco, Sir Fox. You can make it up to the surface through that stairwell."

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "You're not coming up to the surface?"

"Oh, not at all. I can't go up with you two. This is my stop, unfortunately." He shook his head. "One of the unusual things about being a ghost. For some reason, I can't go up past this floor. I suspect it has something to do with my spirit being bound to this place, but then again, I'm the only ghost I've ever known. I might spend my whole entire life trying to guess why I'm still here… but then again, isn't that my job?" The ghost glowed with a bit of mirth. "There's no need to worry about me. I don't mind staying underground. My time's long gone anyways. It's your generation's world now."

"Right." With that Coco and I started for the stairs. I turned around. "It's nice getting to meet you, J. Even if it isn't for long."

"The pleasure's all mine." We started out. "Wait!" We stopped. "One last thing. I've been mulling for awhile after you said your Headmaster's name. He shares a similar name to one of my friends. I believe he either changed his name, or maybe it's his son in charge of your school. Either way, if he asks for my name, tell him Jojo says hi, alright?" My eyebrows furrowed. So that's his name, huh…

I nodded. "Okay. I will. Goodbye, Jojo."

"Goodbye, Fox."

Coco and I left the office and walked up the stairs in silence. I can hear the occasional grunt as Coco stumbled on the steps, but my mind pondered on the recent events. The Headmaster… he doesn't have family. It's only him. So that means Jojo somehow knew the Headmaster? That's surprising. Did they use to be teammates during the Great War?

And speaking of which, how old is the Headmaster then? The Great War is eighty years ago at this point. Even at his youngest, our Headmaster must be nearing a hundred years old. Yet he looks as nimble and young as a thirty-year-old fit man. There's no way the Headmaster is that old. Is he?

"Oh my gods, Coco! Fox!" I turned my head in the direction of the voice. Velvet's figure grabbed us a second later. "You're okay! I thought you two got buried in the rubble, and I was so worried, and—" She sniffled. "Don't make me worry like that!"

"Aw, bun bun…" Coco stroked the girl's hair. "You never had to worry. We're one of the toughest Huntsmen out there. Of course we'll be fine."

"I'm glad you're safe," Yatsu rumbled as he walked towards us.

"As am I." I held out a hand, which the man promptly took. "We didn't want to scare you guys after all."

"Mmm. I'm sure you didn't." Yatsu let out a hum. "What's that you're holding?"

Oh yeah… They're not filled in with what happened. I sighed. "It's a long story… we'll explain it to you guys as we're coming back. You're going to need to trust what I say, it's a weird one. Right, Coco?"

Coco nodded, looking at the rabbit Faunus. "Yeah. You won't believe us when we tell you, but you're going to have to. But first, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Velvet, call for an airship. Fox, get into contact with the Headmaster. I think he'll find what we found down there interesting."

**=FOX BA END=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand Description:
> 
> 「HERMIT PURPLE」: Gives the user the ability of divination, allowing them to discover information using TVs, cameras, etc. Can also transfer the power of the Silver Eyes through it, making them a deadly Grimm slayer.


	34. Be Above It

One thing I don't think I'll ever get over is the pre-match jitters. I stared at the mirror in front of me. Silver eyes returned my gaze. Fighting in front of people is nerve-wracking. You have to show off everything you have in front of a live audience, and the pressure to perform is insane. Granted, it's not as scary as making sure the world doesn't end, but when my actions in the Amity can be the difference between life and death for Vale and everyone living there? When an attack here can bring in a swarm of Grimm, slaughtering everybody in the city? It's hard to not feel more than just the jitters.

My heart quickening in my chest as I stood up, walked over to my locker and popped it open. Inside was my wonderful Crescent Rose. Her new coating glistened in the bright lights of the locker room. I picked up the weapon and ran my hand across its chassis. I couldn't find a single dent or scratch on my sniper scythe.

I pulled back the bolt. My child didn't resist a bit, sliding back with an obedient click. That's good so far… I stepped into a more open area and activated its mechashift. Crescent Rose didn't let out a single whine as she unfolded out into her true form. I felt my heartbeat slow down, a bit of pride and joy radiating off my face as I examined the massive scythe one last time. Looks like everything's working properly. She's ready for battle once again.

After what felt like months and months of preparation, it's finally time for the Vytal Festival. I let out a sigh as I folded my baby back into its compact form. The event we've been waiting for for years now is finally here, and team RWBY finally has a chance to fight with the best of the best! I turned to look at the rest of my team, who were testing their weapons out as well. All of them kept a focused look on their faces, bringing a smile to my face. I've always dreamed of this day, when we can show our skills as Huntsmen to the world, inspire others, and become a beacon of hope to everyone on Remnant.

My smile disappeared. But things aren't going to go well. We all know that something's going to happen soon. The White Fang is out there planning an attack. Something that's taken months to prepare for, if Blake was right. Their master plan has to happen within the four days the Vytal Festival takes place. If this villain's goal is to end civilization like the Headmaster said, then causing public panic in the form of a terrorist attack will help them a lot. Not to mention the whispers of everyone at school about the Unity Amphitheater incident. Everyone here is nervous about it. How would the public react if something like that happened again? Can Vale hold on with this much tension in the air?

The main thing is that we don't have time left. I sucked in some air as I straightened my back. We need to find them as soon as possible. "Alright, team RWBY!" I chirped. All of team RWBY turned to look at me. "Gather around, everyone!" I cleared my throat as my teammates approached me. "Sister and teammates, the day we've been waiting for has arrived. It's time for us to step up and show what we're really made of! There's no room for mistakes. When we step through that door," I pointed towards the gate that leads to the center stadium, "We're going to do everything we can to succeed! Just follow the plan, and we'll make sure the Vytal Festival goes well!"

"Yeah!" Everyone else cheered as they pumped their fists.

"Alright then! Onwards, Team RWBY!" I started towards the exit. "To greater days! Banzai!"

I took a deep breath as soon as my face was out of sight. Sometimes I don't know how people can be so inspiring without feeling fear or dread or something. Are they just naturally good at being confident? Or do they feel like me, frightened inside but unwilling to show that fear to others? Because I'm definitely feeling the latter right now.

Even as the four of us are making our way towards the arena entrance, I can't help but feel my stomach churning and my mind racing. The plan we set up should work, but the question is how well? We don't have a clear idea of what exactly our team is up against; the stage selection's going to be completely random. The team we're going against might be worth worrying about. I know Arslan and her abilities, but as for everyone else on her team… They're pretty much unknowns to me. Hopefully, this will work out okay.

"You guys all know what you're going to do?" I asked. Everyone around me nodded. "That's good." I took in another breath as the light at the end of the tunnel started appearing. Whelp, I guess it's now or never. The beginning of the end. It's time to stand up and stop the Cupid once and all.

"And from Beacon Academy, here comes the living embodiments of energy, regality, allure, and passion! These girls have proven themselves over and over throughout the school year for their enthusiasm and strength, and we can't wait to see how they perform here! To all of the Kingdoms of Remnant, meet the beautiful ladies of team RWBY!"

A symphony of roars escaped from the crowd as we walked through. I shielded my eyes as the sudden sunlight blinded me for a moment. Oh my gods… Ooh, that's bright. You know, this place looks a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I unshielded my eyes before they widened up. And look at the crowd! There must be tens of thousands of people all sitting in the stadium! It's so amazing watching the crowd move, forming waves with nothing but their own bodies. That's so cool, even if it's so scary! I waved back into the crowd, letting out a giggle as the roars grew louder.

Oobleck took over from there. "Yes, quite! It's been quite an honor to teach a team like them! Although from my personal experiences with opposing team ABRN, I'd say it's anyone's win here. But with the introductions out of the way, let me officially welcome everyone to the fortieth Vytal Festival!"

I glanced towards my teammates. From the looks of it, they must've agreed with my thoughts about the crowd. All of them had awestruck looks as they stared back into the mass of people. And I don't blame them. I don't think anyone here has ever performed in a stadium this packed. Maybe Weiss and Pyrrha, but that's not the point. I stared at the crowd. There are so many people gathered here today in the name of peace…

And somebody wants to attack it and destroy this. This beautiful sight of all Remnans together and united, somebody wants this destroyed. We can't let anyone ruin the Vytal Festival.

Looking ahead I saw team ABRN, all standing around their spots already. It's RWBY vs. ABRN: the first match of the tournament. We took our places opposite the Mistralian team.

Speaking of our opposing team... I cast a glance at each of them. To the furthest right of me was a guy with pink hair and what looked like a combination of an assault rifle and a sword. A gunblade. He was kinda bouncing around, bobbing his head back and forth to pass the time, I guess. Next to him was a guy in a brownish-yellow gi with a short staff strapped to his back. Compared to the pinked-haired boy next to him, he remained as still as a stone. Skipping past Arslan for a moment, on the far most left of the team was a girl with turquoise hair, just laying on what looks to be a hoverboard. With our arrival she hopped back to her feet, shooting us a smile.

And standing in the center of the entire group was Arslan herself. I waved at ABRN's team leader, a smile growing on my face. "Hey, Arslan! It's been awhile since we met, huh? How have you been? Is everything fine with your team?"

The platinum-haired girl gave me a small yet friendly smile. "It has been some time. But to answer your question, my team and I are doing fine. I hope everything is going well for you as well."

"Yup!" I widened my stance. "I guess this is where we have our rematch, then."

She nodded. "And with our teammates, as well. This will be a more enjoyable fight than last time." Arslan gave me a bow. "I wish you good luck. May the best team win, Ruby."

"Right back at you, Arslan!" I widened my stance as I gave the rest of my team a nod.

The laugh of Professor Port rumbled through the stage. "Look at the feisty-ness of the competition today! This will be one explosive opening battle, that's for sure! Now, let's see where they will clash." Holograms flickered in the air, displaying an empty emblem with different colored symbols. Almost immediately the logos started spinning, switching between images at speeds I can't keep up with. I held my breath. Come on… where are we fighting?

After what felt like an eternity, the roulette slowed down to a crawl before ending on the image of a volcano and what looks like an iceberg. "Lava and ice! What a wonderful selection!" Professor— I mean Doctor Oobleck cleared his throat. "A fight between thermal extremes! The duality between burning passion and chilling precision! I don't know about you, Peter, but I'm very interested in seeing how this match will go!"

"That's right, Bart! Ladies and gentleman, watch team RWBY and ABRN dance to a song of fire and ice!" One last roar escaped from the crowd as the stage around us started to collapse around us, sinking into the depths of the floating stadium. What came back up was surprising. Behind team ABRN grew an icy wasteland. Icicles and ice Dust crystals poked out from the icy ground, forming beautiful structures. From the corner of my eye, I could make out a rocky ridge resting along the edge of the arena. Glowing red lava slowly ran down the obsidian stage. I shuddered alongside Weiss and Blake. I know **「** **DOWN UNDER** **」**  isn't coming back, but I still don't want to be reminded of it.

"Alright, everyone! Let's countdown!" Both segments of the stage locked into place before a number indicator appeared right above us. My eyes narrowed as I glanced at the arena around us. Interesting… both sides of the stage have a decent amount of Dust crystals sticking out. We can make this plan work… although it would work better if we stayed within the lava stage. I shuddered again. What we have to do for the plan.

"Go!"

Crescent Rose flew out into my hands. "Everyone!" I yelled as I loaded a bullet and aimed directly for the boy in the yellow-brown outfit. "Get in the lava zone and spread out!" My weapon roared a second later, sending me flying back-first into the scorching stage. While everything was a blur to me as I flew back at break-neck speeds, I think I managed to hit the guy with the pink hair, considering how he stumbled back and grasped his chest.

I flipped over right after, loading another round into Crescent Rose before firing into the rocky hills, slowing myself down enough to land with a roll. I glanced over my shoulder. Hmm… Arslan, the girl with the hoverboard and the boy with the staff were running in towards us while the pink-haired boy kept his distance, instead unslinging his assault rifle and firing potshots at Weiss. So they're not taking any chances… hmm. I wonder how the rest of ABRN will break up to face off against RWBY.

Speaking of which, what happened to the rest of my team? I dropped into a prone position and surveyed the area. Blake and Yang were banding together, ready to receive Arslan and the turquoise-haired girl in a two-on-two fight. Weiss is… where is she— Oh! Right on the side, trying to stay out of trouble. She's starting her part of the plan.

From the corner of my eye, I caught the staff user skidding on the floor to charge at my partner. My turn. The boy cried out before stumbling as one of my shots connected. The sound of the gunshot vibrated in my ears. Come on, switch to me. I glanced at the arena once more. Assault rifle boy is still in the ice section taking potshots, Arslan and hover girl are still occupied by Yang and Blake. The only person I really have to worry about is the person going after Weiss. I refocused my sights, sending another barrage of bullets toward the unoccupied guy.

This time he was ready, twirling his weapon around and smacking the rounds away. I ducked moments later as bullets slammed into the rocks. Oh gods! I peeked up. At least he's focused on me now. Weiss won't be bothered for a while. But now he's charging in my direction. Well, he doesn't have a ranged weapon. As long as I keep the guy between me and the assault rifle dude, I should be fine just summoning Rose and— Oh right. I'm not supposed to use my Stand while in the tournament. Oh man… I winced. I'm getting way too used to using my Stand for everything.

Instead, I leaped up, shifting Crescent Rose into her scythe form before speeding towards my attacker. We met in the center with a furious slam, sending shockwaves as wood met steel. Our eyes locked for one moment as we struggled against each other. How much time does Weiss need at this point? If only if I can give her a spare glance to check on her progress… but I can't let them figure out what we're doing!

A cry escaped from someone, forcing the both of us to glance at the source of the sound. My eyes widened. Huh? The hoverboard girl— What was her name? Wait a minute… don't they display the names underneath the scoreboard? I glanced at the large monitor. Her name's Reese… Okay. I glanced back. Reese was on the ground, groaning as she rubbed her rear. Blake winced at the sight. What happened? Did she fall off her hoverboard? I mean, that's a good thing for us, but that has to hurt. I mean, landing on what's basically cooled lava can't possibly feel good—

I yelped when my opponent — Bolin was his name, I think — stepped forwards and jammed the staff into my gut. Spit flew out of my mouth as I doubled over. I couldn't even get a breather when he followed through, spinning the staff to smack me in the jaw. A groan escaped my mouth. Defense, Ruby. It's definitely time to ease up. I stepped back, this time focusing on keeping the boy from landing any more shots. A bead of sweat slid down my face. Oh geez, this guy's fast! He's doing a pretty good job keeping up with me. But he can't quite get past my defense. I think we can bring ourselves to a stalemate with—

Something slammed into my shoulder, knocking me down to the ground. I resisted groaning as the stinging sensation washed over me. Ow, what the— oh gods, the pink haired guy! I glanced at the lone boy. He managed to get in a lucky shot. Fortunately for me, Bolin overextended when I fell, stumbling close to my prone body. Perfect. My hand formed a fist. Can't exactly swing Crescent Rose this close, but I can take a page from Rose. Let's do something nobody would expect from me.

I sucker punched the boy in the guts. A wheeze escaped the boy as he doubled over. Crescent Rose swung around me as I twisted myself back up to my feet, meeting Bolin at the end of the arc and knocking him into the rocky hill behind me. That 'oughta buy us a little bit more time. I looked at the holoscreen displaying our stats. I'm at seventy-five percent. Yang and Blake have around sixty percent, Weiss is still completely full. Everyone on team ABRN has taken a decent amount of damage. Come on, Weiss. Hurry up with the setup before people notice why you aren't fighting—

A blur of white caught my attention. My partner charged towards— I glanced at the scoreboard again— Nadir, Myrtenaster forwards and ready to receive her opponent. His face morphed from calm to panic, stumbling backward as he shifted his weapon to its sword form. Whew, that's good. Weiss is all good, then. It's all set up.

My arms moved, swinging Crescent Rose behind me the moment I heard footsteps. Her blade bit into Bolin's staff. But everything's ready. We just need to set ourselves up now. Weiss has Nadir, so all I have to do is keep Bolin here. Another flurry of blows exchanged between the two of us. This time he's gotten a bit more wary, taking care to not overextend like what happened last time. I gritted my teeth as a couple of jabs managed to break through my defenses, smacking my torso and chipping my Aura bit by bit. Meanwhile, all of my blows were either deflected or blocked. I should switch to Crescent Rose's war-scythe form… that might help me with getting through his defenses. But then again…

Before I could decide how to go about this, Bolin side-stepped me, smashing his staff into one of the fire Aura crystals standing nearby. My body tightened. Please don't hit too hard— Hmm? It didn't blow up? I sidestepped and shot towards my opponent, forcing him to step back. Wha? Why didn't it— I glanced at the base of the crystal. Oh… It's not one of the ones Weiss set up earlier… I honestly don't know how to feel about that, to be honest.

"Reese!" Before I could react, Bolin snatched a shard of Dust lying on the ground before tossing it towards the skater girl. What does she plan on doing with that? The boy in the brownish-yellow gi didn't give me time to figure out the answer, however, as he darted towards me again. Okay, Ruby. Start backing up. I can feel the wind coming from the swishes of the wooden staff, maybe a couple of centimeters away from my face. From the corner of my eye, I could tell the rest of my team were leading team ABRN into the lava zone. I focused myself. Honestly, this is getting pretty tiring. Let's end this already.

Crescent Rose's blade shot out, straightening out into its war scythe form. A look of surprise enveloped Bolin's face as I jabbed him in the face. Now he was on the defensive, focusing on knocking away the end of my blade. I kept backing up into the heart of the lava zone, making jabs to keep him at bay. Every jab would poke into his skin. Sometimes it would look like the weapon would rip right through him.

One look at the scoreboard reveals that Bolin's getting pretty close to slipping below fifteen percent. I shuddered at the thought of breaking his Aura and spilling blood. Maybe all of the Stand fighting is finally starting to get to me. It's so hard to restrain myself when all of the people I fought in the past were more than willing to kill me and the people I love. Yeah, I've killed Grimm before, but that's entirely different from hurting people. Grimm don't have souls or intelligence. Remnans do. And when for once my opponent is someone who doesn't want me dead…

I flipped Crescent Rose's blade back to its original position and shot Bolin, knocking him to the ground. The wail of the buzzer rang right after that. A glance at the scoreboard revealed that he dropped just below fifteen percent. Whew… Well, one down. The buzzer rang twice more. Huh? I turned to look at the rest of my team. Both Reese and Nadir were outside the arena. Oh gods, what in the world? Weiss and Blake already ringed out their opponents? We weren't supposed to take so many of them down that quickly. That wasn't part of the plan. Now it's just Arslan vs all of us. … Are we  _too_  efficient at this?

From the looks of it, Arslan must've realized it as well. With a blink of an eye, something about her figure changed. Huh? I narrowed my eyes. Occasionally I could make out the ghostly visage of  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** rippling over her, with minor details sticking out from her skin.

With a grunt, she bounded towards Yang and Blake, rushing towards them in a flash. If I didn't know better, it's almost like Arslan actually flew through the air. Still, my eyes widened for a moment. What is she doing? Doesn't she know that if any Stand user's watching—

Wait a minute. I bit the inside of my cheek. Now that I got a better look at it, Arslan hides her Stand pretty well. Even as she's moving about dodging the rest of my team's attacks,  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** isn't really revealing itself, maybe a bit of the elbow once in a while. It's almost impossible to tell her Stand's out at all. Maybe this is what years of experience as a Stand user look like. She's so good at getting her Stand to mimic her body movements to the point that she could effectively use it as a replacement for a Semblance… I should ask her about that later.

But for now, we need to make sure that the results go our way. Already the rest of team RWBY were roping her into the lava zone. My eyes snapped towards the scoreboard yet again. Okay, so… I'm just below fifty percent, Yang and Blake are at around twenty percent, Weiss is at seventy percent. Again, I really expected the rest of ABRN to hold up a lot longer than what just happened. This would've looked a lot more natural if Blake or Yang got out first… but I guess things happen. All we have to do now is bring this fight to a finish.

I ran into the fray. At this point Arslan was sweating bullets, eyes flying about as she dodged and blocked all of the fists and blades flying towards her. She was doing her absolute best to keep herself alive right now. Everybody backed off moments later as she threw a stream of molten wax at them. Yeah, Arslan isn't doing too good right now.

Our eyes locked as I approached her. She raised an eyebrow at me. In response, I folded Crescent Rose into its gun form. Arslan nodded, taking a deep breath before flicking her hand towards me. I yelped when something sharp slipped out of her hands. What the— I threw myself to the side. A throwing knife? No… I glanced at the white gauze flying past me. A rope dart using a dagger and bandage gauze. Before anyone could react, the weapon constricted around Blake's ankle. Oh gods. That is going to hurt.

The faunus girl flipped over, letting out a yelp as Arslan yanked her back. A fist slammed into Blake's stomach a moment later, causing the buzzer to ring. Three against one.

"Hey! That's my partner!" Yang shot forwards, red in her eyes as she brought her fist back. I moved too, circling around to meet up with Weiss before we charged forwards. However, Arslan was prepared. The moment she realized that my sister was approaching, Arslan unwrapped her rope dart, sliding the gauze through one of her fists. The red goopy substance hardened up, stiffening the gauze into a baton, maybe? No, it's pretty long… it's more like a bow staff, like what Sun and Bolin use. With a yell, she gripped the improvised weapon with both hands and charged at the blonde girl.

Yang tried throwing a fist in the air, but Arslan managed to beat her to the punch, sliding before jabbing Yang in the stomach. And just like that, the leader of ABRN managed to stop a flying Yang. I could see Yang cough out spit. Before my sister could do anything else, Arslan smashed her into the ground, something the buzzer rang out from. Two against one now.

"Weiss," I yelled as I approached her. She turned towards me. "Is this where we're supposed to be?"

She nodded. "Stay right here, and we'll be good." I turned back towards the platinum-haired girl. Well then… This is where we stand our ground. I unfolded Crescent Rose again into her scythe form, gripping her handle tightly. Meanwhile, Arslan was swinging her rope around, flicking the wax off the fabric roughly twenty meters away from us. There's no telling when she'll charge. I widened my stance. Just a little more… we're so close now. Come on, Arslan, give us your best shot.

The team leader of ABRN must've read my mind because at that moment, she broke into a sprint towards us. I heard the telltale sounds of Weiss summoning a glyph behind me. We're ready to take her on. No matter what she does, Arslan isn't going to do anything that would affect any of us—

My eyes widened when she pivoted right, running to the side instead of charging us head first. What in the world? Why isn't she going after us? What could she be possibly going after that would take her in that direction? I glanced in the general direction she's heading. I don't see anything that could be of importance… all that I see really is Nadir's gun just lying there— Oh wait! My eyes widened. She's going after that?

Arslan dove for the assault rifle, snatching it from the ground before making an awkward roll. Crescent Rose started collapsing herself back into sniper rifle form. Come on, come on, hurry up. The leader of ABRN pulled the gun up to her eyes. Come on—

Everything went white. The sounds of the world around me disappeared, replaced by nothing but a loud ringing. A cry escaped my mouth as I felt my body flying up in the air. I can feel the shockwaves rippling through my body, pushing my Aura to its absolute limits. I can actually feel it pulsing through my body, ready to burst at a moment's notice. All I can do is hope that the damage isn't going to hurt me too much.

I slammed into something hard. A wall or something? I still couldn't really see, with everything around me gone white. Where am I? I started patting the ground around me. Something smooth yet hard, that's for sure. What am I touching? I sniffed the air. I could make out the smell of discharged Aura. Hmm… I started blinking my eyes. Oh, wait a minute. My vision's clearing up! Maybe I can figure out what happened! My eyes narrowed as moments later my eyes picked up something gray. Wait a minute… am I on concrete?

Something clicked as I shot up. I'm on the concrete, but there's no concrete in the arena. So I must've been thrown out of it. Did that really happen? I turned to look at the board. Team RWBY's faces were completely crossed out. My heart sank as I felt tears start to well up in my eyes. Oh my gods… did this really happen? Did we really—?

My hearing decided to return at that very moment. "And the winner of that first round is team ABRN from Haven Academy!"

* * *

The air around us was thick with disappointment as we walked back on stage to congratulate our victorious opponents. Everything felt so… weird as I shook ABRN's hands. "Good match," I muttered to each one. I brushed away my short locks. Team RWBY losing in the first round in front of so many people… I wonder if Uncle Qrow and Dad are watching. What are they thinking about what just happened?

"Ruby." I looked up to see Arslan with her hand extended. She wiped her brow with her free hand. "Good match. We'll meet again soon, okay?" All I did was nod before our teams started back for the entrances we first came from. I kept my eyes on the ground. There's no way I could stand looking at the crowd after a performance like that. And then there were the other teams. There's no way we can look at them in the eyes after this. I mean, there's always next time, but we'll be known as the team that lost in the first round—

"Hey guys, you did great!" I could recognize Jaune's voice anywhere. My eyes flickered up to see him right at the edge of the bleachers, giving us a wave. "Don't worry about this! We got your back!"

"Yeah!" Nora threw herself up on the divider, plopping herself down on the top railing. "That was an awesome first round! You guys might've lost, but everyone did good!"

Ren followed closely behind Nora. "You did what you could against them."

Pyrrha stepped forwards then, resting her arms on the beams before nodding her head. "It's an honor to fight against a team that can really challenge everyone. I'm sure that when we go to Mistral during our third year, you'll be able to beat them."

"And you betcha we'll be there to see RWBY win against ABRN next time!" the hyperactive redhead piped. "We're with you all the way!"

I stared in amazement as all of team JNPR stood above us, our oldest friends there for us. Yeah… they are. I glanced through the rest of the crowd. One by one, I spotted each of the Stand users I met throughout this journey. Nolan gave me a nod, flicking a thumbs up. Gwen made a giggling motion before giving us all a wave, smiling all the while. Russel was more muted, but even he managed to give us a head nod. I managed to spot Penny from the stands— Oh my gods, how long has it been since I talked with Penny? But even she gave me a salute with that grin on her face.

All of them were with RWBY as well. We have all of them supporting us, even if they aren't directly helping with the search. I can feel the frown vanish from my face, now replaced with a grin. It took all of my power to not let the tears filling my eyes stream out. Thank you, everyone. We'll do this.

Movement caught my eye. Team C.M.E.N were looking at us right now. Huh. I guess their fourth member couldn't make it, after all. It's kinda sad that C.M.E.N couldn't fight this time around, especially with their fourth member gone home to take care of their family. I'm glad the rest of the team still came over to cheer us on, though.

All three of them gave us nods or quick waves. But something that caught my interest was the way they were looking at us. It felt like their eyes bored on us, observing our every move even though they had friendly looks on their faces. I locked eyes with Cinder. There was some hidden emotion that flickered through her eyes for just a moment. Pity? Sympathy? Sorrow? It was like she understood what we're going through right now. Like she felt the way we should feel down here.

But just like that, the emotion disappeared, replaced with that cool exterior that was more Cinder-y. A sly smirk grew on her face as she nodded towards me. Eh, it must be nothing. I turned back towards the gate. Maybe she was just thinking too much again like she usually does. But then again, she never was all that emotional before while she thought. Wonder what that was about…

Team RWBY stepped into the tunnel, bringing us out of the light and into the darkness once more. The fear that once gripped me when I walked through these cramped corridors didn't return. There's no need to worry anymore. With the help of everyone, we'll stop the Cupid and its master once and for all. We're not going to let this thing ruin more lives, we won't let it destroy civilization. We'll stop them before that time comes.

We stepped back into the locker room, brushing ourselves off before sitting down on benches. Everything was silent in the room. I looked up. "Guys…" They turned their head. A grin grew on my face. "We did it. We did it!" I jumped to my feet, letting out a cheer. "We lost!"

Smiles grew on the rest of my team as they joined me in my celebration. "Oh my gods, we managed to lose! And that loss looked pretty good! Yes! This is perfect!" I let out a long sigh as I slumped back into my seat. "Oh man, I was worried for a moment that we would've won that match. I mean, we honestly should've held back a bit more, but I was surprised at how fast we took ABRN down. Maybe they might not be as good as we think. Or maybe most of us are just too used to fighting on such an intense level."

Yang let out an 'eeh' as she shrugged. "I mean, I managed to hold off against their team leader pretty well. Without me, we would've been in the next round."

I nodded. "Yeah, probably. Thanks for that, Yang. Just think about all of the time we would have lost with two of us preparing for the doubles match. That would mean the difference between us succeeding and the terrorist attack happening!" I turned over to my partner. "Weiss, your implanted Dust was perfect. I wouldn't have minded something with a bit less kick, but that explosion should sell our loss pretty well."

Weiss hummed. "Right. Honestly, this would be a lot less tedious if we could just drop out of the tournament and focus on the search. It was hard trying to set up this charade, and we almost failed at failing our match."

"But Weiss, you know the bad guys are watching the Vytal Festival," I said. "Those guys have been planning an attack like this for months. They're most likely paying attention to everything going on, and they would get suspicious if we tried dropping out all of a sudden." I rubbed the back of my neck. "But yeah, that was so bad. To think that we could've actually won for a moment…"

"But thank gods that that didn't happen. We managed to lose, and we're all free to do whatever we wish." I rubbed my hands together. "This is our chance to get the Stand Arrow back once and for all!" My hand shot into the air as I pointed a finger towards the ceiling. "Cupid, you better watch your back, because we're coming for you!"

"Yeah!" Everyone laughed.

"Whew… So…" I started, brushing a lock of hair off of my face. "It's time we start part two of the plan. The actual search."

"Right," Yang sighed. "We've been going over this with Jaune the entire weekend. I can recite it in my sleep." Yang leaned back against a locker. "Blake and I are going to focus our efforts on searching Beacon for the Cupid. Considering the Cupid's range, we would be the best choices to look around for where it could be hiding. And we've already cleared a bunch of the campus already, so we're bound to find its location within the next few days. Plus, no one would be too surprised if we decide to stay on campus instead of watching the tournament."

My partner nodded. "Right. Ruby and I will stay on Amity, partly to present the idea that RWBY didn't suddenly abandon the tournament altogether, but to also try to figure out what the White Fang is doing onboard the Amity Colosseum and put a stop to them. Jaune should be able to help us with that as soon as he finishes his match." Weiss turned to look at the cat faunus, a small frown forming on her face. "Blake, are you sure you're okay with leaving the White Fang to us? I know deep down that you've always wanted to fix the White Fang. We can switch roles if you want—"

"N-No, it's fine." Amber eyes glanced away from the heiress. "The last thing we need is for one of the older members to recognize me and push the attack ahead of their normal schedule." Her fist tightened. "Admittedly, I do want to go after them myself. But it's like Ruby said, we can't let them figure out what we're doing. There will be a time for change in the White Fang, but—" She took in a sharp sigh. "—But not now. Now's not the time. Especially since they're ready to attack."

"Yeah." I nodded my head. "Thank you, Blake. I'm sure you'll find your chance one day."

I couldn't read Blake's face. All she did was bob her head in a sorta nod. "Mmhm."

With that I got up, letting out a loud groan as I stretched my muscles. I can start to feel my hunger creeping up. "Well then! So, let's go ahead and put our weapons away and get something to eat with JNPR. I'm famished!" Everybody's stomach let out growls of agreement, causing the room to erupt in laughter. "Come on! I'm sure the stalls in the fairground have tons of good food, and we gotta get to the shuttles before they fill up and we can't get any more!" Everybody was quick to pack up once they heard that.

* * *

"Oh my gods!" The hyperactive redhead let out a squeal of delight, rushing towards one of the nearby stalls the moment we stepped out of the airbus. "Look at this! So cute, huh?"

The rest of team JNPR turned to look at her. I scratched my head, letting out a nervous chuckle as I fiddled with my hoodie strings. Oh boy. What's she doing this time?

The boy to my side must've had the same thought I did as he shook his head. "Nora," Ren called out. "What are you looking at?"

"Renny, you wouldn't believe it. There's a stall that's selling all sorts of cool stuff! They must have like, everything!" She started jabbing a finger at the stall. "I mean, just come and look at this!"

We walked over to her as Ren let out an amused sigh. "Okay then, Nora. What do you want us to look at?" I glanced at the table and let out a hum. Oh, this stall has tons of animal figurines made out of all types of material. There were knitted animals, clay moldings, glass moldings, sewn plushies, and the list goes on and on. I let out a whistle. Wow, did that salesman make all of that? Because if he did, that's a talented guy right there.

Nora let out a coo. "Ooh, I wonder if I should get one of these. Hey Ren, what do you think? What kind should we get?"

At that, the boy gave his friend a weird look. "We? Don't you have your own lien?"

"Well, about that…" She let out a chuckle as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I… don't really have my wallet on me right now. So is it okay if you pay for once?"

Ren sighed. "Nora—"

"I know! I know! But just this once! Could you just please—"

Something caught my eye, drawing me away from the commotion that was Nora and Ren. I looked at one of the figurines. Next to a sign that said 'All sales support our local artists!' was a little red rooster in the middle of crowing, calling the beginning of a new day. I picked it up. Wow, the artist did a lot of work here. Everything's so detailed. It's like having a mini-rooster in my hand. And the glazing is beautiful. It makes all of the details really stick out, making this a really beautiful piece.

My eyes narrowed. There's something about this statue that I just can't put my finger on. It's like I've seen something similar to this before. But where? I looked at the bottom of its base. Engraved on the bottom was "R.T.+N.P. 07-13." I had to suppress a smile on my face. They've made it after all.

"Excuse me?" The person working the stall glanced up at me. I held the rooster up. "Can you tell me more about the artists of this?"

"Oh, that piece. I'm not quite sure myself." The storekeeper shrugged. "I remember seeing the two of them approach me and introduce themselves as up and coming sculptors. Their names were… Ruddy and Navi, I think? Really weird pair. Ruddy was this foppish redhead who did all of the talking while Navi was this brunette with pink highlights who just stood there, silent as a mouse. Very eccentric, but they make really good statuettes. If I had the lien and studio room, I'd hire them as my personal sculptors. Why do you ask?"

"I like to know who I'm supporting." I pulled out some lien. "After all, it's hard to make an honest living off of statues starting off, and I think their stuff is really good. This rooster definitely brings back… old memories." I handed the man my money and the figurine. "They really deserve this."

Ever since we left Roman and Neo back in that warehouse… a month ago now, we haven't heard a single word about what happened to them. Guess I know now. But as terrible people as they were before, I'm glad they finally found their quiet life. Something they can truly be proud of. They can enjoy their newfound life. As for the rest of us… I whispered a thank you to the clerk as I took the little baggie he put the figurine in. We're going to bring that peace to the rest of Vale, no matter the cost.

I turned back towards my team right in time to see Nora pouting. "Aww man… okay, Ren. I'll just buy something tomorrow. I mean, the guy will still be here then, I guess. So that's good!" She looked over at me. "What? You got something, Jaune?" I nodded. She let out a groan. "Why must life be this way? Jaune, can I borrow money?"

"Nora, why don't you just ask Pyrrha or something?" I walked back to them. "I'm sure that she'd be cool with you borrowing some lien from her right now."

"Yeah, that's true, but…" The hyperactive redhead glanced at the other girl on the team, who was humming to herself while she was looking at one of the other exhibits. "It wouldn't feel right. It can't be Pyrrha's money." Before I could blink, Nora zipped over to me and brought her mouth close to my ear. "I wanted to get something for her, something to really apologize for what happened last week." Before I could open my mouth, she shushed me. "I know she already forgave me for that. But I still feel like I really need to make it up to her somehow, like getting her something that reminds her of the happier days."

"Oh… I can understand that. If you want, I can give you some lien right now, and you can pay me back when we come home."

"Really?" She jumped up and down hearing that. "Thank you! Thank you!" Nora snatched my hand and started dragging me towards the table again. "Now this is what I'm thinking about getting…"

A couple of minutes later and some wild gesturing, team JNPR and I continued our walk through the fairgrounds, with both Nora and I having a baggy in our hands. Just being here is wonderful. The autumn breeze is cool yet not freezing, the smell of carnival food filled the air alongside the cheerful yelps of playing children. We past by this one buff Faunus with cool tribal tattoos of killer whales and a deer Faunus in a nice wavy dress, almost like a jellyfish. They had a nice synergy with the marine life theme. I sighed. It's really relaxing exploring this place.

"Hey Jaune," Nora started. "What are we doing? I like walking around, but don't you think we've been doing this for awhile now?" I stiffened in response. To be honest, the wandering around isn't just for our amusement. I'm also waiting for team RWBY to text me back or something. After all, didn't they say something about how there was going to be a big attack here soon? They said something about how they had a plan to find the Cupid before the Vytal Festival came around, but they never told me. I wonder when they will.

Right then and there I heard a familiar high-pitched yell. "Hi guys!" Ruby rushed in, leaving a trail of rose petals. Right behind her was the rest of team RWBY.

"Hello," Pyrrha chirped. "I just wanted to say that you guys did really well during that fight. Those ABRN guys were strong opponents, especially their leader."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. Sorry to interrupt, but can we go find something to eat real quick? Everybody's starving right now." As if prompted, all of team RWBY's stomachs let out a fierce rumble. The girl gave me an embarrassed smile. "Heheh… yeah, please?"

My partner nodded. "That sounds wonderful. Do you have any suggestions on where to go?"

The scythe user shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno, anywhere at this point is fine—" She gasped. "Oh my gods, they're serving noodles right there!" A gust of wind slammed into my face as Ruby dashed forwards. "Oh man, I didn't know A Simple Wok was going to be here! Come on, let's have lunch together! We're going to have a great time!"

Everybody else stood there silent as we watched our friend bolt off. The other boy in my team scratched the back of his head. "I mean… I don't mind having that for lunch. In fact, we might as well have just a little bit before the match. We haven't eaten anything for awhile."

I nodded as I started towards the booth. "Yeah. Might as well."

We took our seats next to Ruby. "Hey guys, don't worry about ordering. The shopkeep already knows what we're going to order, so all we really have to do is wait." She let out a hum, kicking her legs. "So… the next match is going to be you guys. Do you know who you're going against?"

"Uh huh." Nora bobbed her head. "I can't exactly remember their team name, though. It was some kind of metal, like BRSS?"

"BRNZ," Ren corrected. Hmm… isn't that Nolan's team? That's pretty interesting, I guess. Hmm… now that I think about it, the last time I've talked to that team was… right after the fight with  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC,** **」** I think. Wow, that's actually half a month ago. Time really flies, I suppose.

"Oh yeah! BRNZ!" Ruby straightened her back. "I remember those guys! They were pretty cool." She glanced back at the shopkeep for a moment. "Hey, guys. You don't mind if I had a talk with Jaune for a moment? Talk about team leader stuff, you know."

"Sure thing, Ruby," Pyrrha said.

Ruby let out a beaming smile. "Great!" The two of us leaped out of our seats. "Just call us when the food's ready!"

"This is about the plan, isn't it?" I whispered as we got out of earshot of my team.

The girl nodded. "Blake and Yang are going to go back to Beacon to search for the Cupid while Weiss and I are going to stay here and look for the White Fang. You're searching for the White Fang too, on your own. Did you make sure your team won't suspect anything?"

I nodded. "Part of me wishes I didn't have to lie to them, but it's not like my team will believe me even if I told them. Unlike the rest of us, they've never seen a Stand ever. And there's no way I'm going to convince them to throw their match just like you guys did. It would look way too suspicious, especially since Pyrrha's a regional champion." I shook my head. "Don't worry, I'll be with you guys. So, you have any ideas on where to search?"

"Well… I'm thinking about watching the stadium. My Stand ability allows me to spread my body around and sense everything. With some cloth reinforcements for my body, I can use my feet and parts of my torso to keep watch of the Amity Colosseum for anything suspicious. Then I guess we can have you and Weiss in the corridors. I mean, it's more likely that they're hiding out there. If they had months to prepare for this, they most likely have a couple of people working in the stadium. It's a lot for three people— no, four if Arslan's also doing her own thing to help somehow, but…"

She looked up. "Do you think you can do it? It's not ideal, for sure. I wished we had a better plan. But then again, we don't have a lot of time left." The girl glanced back at the stall. "There're probably a handful of Stand users ready to fight back, and we're not even close to ready—"

"Ruby, calm down." I plopped my hands onto her shoulders, cutting off her words. "You're right, this isn't a good situation at all. I really wished we had something more to work with. We had weeks of nothing happening, then we suddenly learn about an attack happening within the next couple of days. I find that just as scary as everyone else. I wish we had more people that could help us. But whatever happens, we're here to make sure that no one else has to go through this." I gave her a quick squeeze. "I will do it. After all, an Arc keeps his word, right?"

The girl glanced down at the floor for a moment, letting out a soft hum before nodding. "Right. I mean, I shouldn't have second-guessed you in the first place. But thanks." A familiar smile crawled across her face. "I'm glad we're friends, Jaune."

"Hey, you two!" I looked over at the voice. Yang had a grin on her face as she gestured towards the booth. "Shopkeep's bringing out the bowls! Come on over!"

At that, Ruby nodded at her sister. "Ooo, coming!" She glanced at me before nodding towards the booth. "Come on. Let's get some lunch with everyone else. Soup's going to get cold if we don't hurry!"

I nodded, starting back towards A Simple Wok. All of a sudden, my body tensed. Why do I get the feeling that I'm being watched? From the corner of my eye, I caught the sudden movement of something blue. Huh? I threw my head to my left only to see the cheering crowd. Plenty of people in blue milled about. Hmm… maybe it's just my imagination.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at my partner. "There's no need to stand around. Your bowl is ready." I nodded as I walked back. But try as I might, I can't shake off the feelings of being watched. We don't have much time left. But it's unnerving to think just how close we are to losing everything.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 4/27/2018**


	35. Round the Bend

"Ruby, wait up!" My partner let out a long wheeze, taking several gulps of air as she trailed behind me. The only thing I could hear in the otherwise empty stadium concourse were our footsteps. Everyone, and I mean everyone, had left the place. They're most likely up in the stadium bleachers, eager to watch the next fight. Weiss let out a gasp. "Why are we running? … It's not like… we bought last minute snacks… before the match started."

I glanced back at the girl. The distance between me and Weiss grew bigger by the second. I slowed myself down just a bit, enough to not outpace my partner. A grin formed on my face. "We're trying to get seats! Why else would we be rushing over?"

That got Weiss to raise her eyebrows. "Seats? Are you… serious? Ruby, we don't need… to rush for… seats, we already have… a section… for the students! We don't need… to run… so hard!"

"There is! I need to get into the perfect position to watch over everything!" I staggered the moment I felt my stomach churn. Ooh boy… I slowed down to a limping pace, pressing my hand against my stomach at the same time. I pushed myself too hard. My gods, it was a bad idea to run so hard on a full stomach. Still, I kept onwards, limping my way forwards. "We might have a guaranteed area we can sit at, but I also have to spread my rose petals throughout the stadium without drawing attention. Any seat that takes me through a long, winding path will help with that. And don't you think walking around when everyone's seated looks suspicious?"

Weiss let out a gasp of confusion. "Doesn't it work… the opposite? You wander around… because there's no seat— Why do I bother arguing with you?" She finally caught up to me, wheezing as she grabbed my shoulder. "Just… just give me a moment. Running on a full stomach isn't good for you."

A groan escaped my mouth. "I know… You don't need to tell me twice. But look, Weiss." I pointed at the entrance to the stands. "We're right there. We can make it. All we have to do is push just a little harder. Just a little further, and we're at our goal."

My partner didn't say a word for the longest time. I turned my head to see Weiss pressing her lips tightly into a line. A curious hum escaped my mouth. "Weiss?"

"Hmm?" The girl locked eyes with me. "Oh, of course. Sorry about that. My mind blanked out for a moment. It's not fun to go through all of this pain." My partner let out a groan, rubbing her stomach. "But I think I'm better now. Let's get up there."

One thing that came to mind as I entered the stands was just how different it felt compared to being on stage. The situation definitely flipped around for me. Down in the arena, it felt like the world towered around us during our match, millions and millions of people watching our every single move like a hawk. I shivered. It felt like we were carrying everyone on our backs while we were fighting, and, granted, we were to an extent. So much pressure fighting down there…

But here in the stands, it's completely different. Instead of being the main attraction, we're just another part of the crowd. There weren't any eyes on us this time around; instead, the crowd just chatted amongst each other, waiting for the match between JNPR and BRNZ to start. I let out a comfortable sigh, sinking a bit into my boots. It feels nice to not have the pressure to succeed that comes with competing. There isn't any worry about messing up in front of millions of people around the world. That's a nice change of pace, at least. But now there's a different kind of weight on our shoulders. The fate of Remnant very well rests on what happens here.

We started towards the student section of the bleachers. I can feel parts of my feet and torso breaking down into rose petals before slipping down and collecting within my boots. Every step I made shook a couple of petals out before they slipped under the seats. Already they drifted through the stadium at a leisurely pace, spreading themselves out for the task at hand.

My breath hitched for a moment. Let's see if this works. I closed my eyes, bringing me to a grayscale world. Yup, I could sense a lot more of the colosseum now. Like… wow. I can sense everything and everyone moving in the stadium all at once. The breathing of thousands of people, the tiny movements they would make in their seats, the scurrying of the insects within the actual structure— I winced. Whew… I opened my eyes again. That's a lot of things to pay attention to. I can feel the strain that had on my mind. It's going to take a while getting used to all of this information. I wonder if Fox has a method to deal with this. A hum escaped my mouth. Maybe I should ask him if I run into him again.

I glanced at the waves of people already seated. It doesn't seem like anyone noticed the rose petals traveling around their feet for no apparent reason. There was a tiny infant we passed by that cooed at me, but they didn't draw too much attention to us. From the looks of it, nobody's noticed anything. I think we're in the clear for now.

The two of us slowed down as we crossed into the student seating area. Okay… I rested my chin on my hand. Where should we sit now? On one hand, it makes a bit of sense that I should sit higher up. That way, I can see more of the stadium. But at the same time, if something happens in the arena instead of the stands, we can just leap over the barrier and start fighting. But what's going to be the more likely choice? The results of  **「** **HOCUS POCUS** **」** appeared in my mind. That user went for the crowd itself, but at the same time, there's more than one way to draw negativity. Something happening in the arena would also create a ton of negativity. My eyebrows wrinkled. Just what can I do—

"Oh hey, isn't that Ruby and Weiss over there?" That snapped me out of my thoughts. Huh? Who was that? I looked around for the voice. Where did it come from? "Over here." I turned to see Emerald waving at us with a half-smile on her face. Mercury sat to the right of her, while Cinder sat to her left. Cinder's attention wasn't focused on us, but instead on something in her lap. She still gave us a quick nod, never looking up from her task. The mint-haired girl gestured to us. "Hey guys! Do you guys need somewhere to sit?"

"Yeah," I answered, waving back. "Do you guys have any space?"

She nodded in response. "Well, we still have a couple of empty seats next to our team, so if you want, you can sit with us."

"Really?" I grinned as the last petal got itself into place. "Thanks, Emerald! You're the best!" I rushed over to her and gave her a hug before plopping down next to Cinder. Weiss followed close behind, sitting to the left of me before taking out her scroll and opening something. A sigh escaped my mouth. "Whew, man am I tired!"

"That doesn't surprise me." Cinder turned her head and gave me a nod before returning to her own thing. "After all, going through that fight must've taken a lot out of you and your team."

"Yup." I glanced down at Cinder's lap before raising an eyebrow. Rested there was a notebook. Within the notebook was a rough sketch of what looked to be a series of circles around an oval. The black-haired girl worked quickly, adding lines and strokes with a flick of a pencil. Bit by bit, the drawing was fleshed out. Circles became heads of hair. The arena grew out of the oval with every flick the girl made. Small birds emerged from the paper with a few strokes.

After maybe five or so minutes after I sat down, Cinder placed her dulled pencil within the loop rings before marveling at the pencil drawing of the Amity from our point of view. My jaw dropped. Wow… there's so much detail. She perfectly captured every single feature, and it didn't look like she was even trying!

"Oh my gods…" I breathed out in awe. "Cinder, you can draw?"

"Hmm?" Her head shot towards me. "Oh, right. I do pencil sketches on occasion. You can say it's more of a hobby than anything else. It was an easy way to keep my mind off of things when I was younger."

"You can do all that… and this is just a hobby for you?" My jaw dropped even farther. "But you're so good at it! Like, you can sell these pictures to people kind of good! I can only wish I could be that good at drawing! Well, I'm okay with weapon design, but that's completely different from people, animals, buildings, and so on. But you can do all that without any effort! How do you do that?"

That got Cinder to smirk, just a little. "It's nothing special. I've been doing it since childhood. You just keep doing it. Look at reality, look at the details, and replicate it and improve upon it. Once you reach a certain point, it's just practice."

"Practice?" I pouted. "Oh man, that's going to take forever, though…"

Weiss sat up at that moment. "Wait… Cinder, you said that you drew since childhood, right?" The black-haired girl nodded. "We never saw you draw during your time here."

"Oh, I pushed that off to the side when I started my journey," Cinder shrugged. "With all of the work needed to make it to Vale and to the Vytal Festival, I never really got the chance to come back to it. But I guess now when we're so close to the end, it's nice to return to a childhood pastime. A chance to enjoy simple pleasures before moving towards an unknown future. After all, who knows how much life might change?"

"But enough about my drawings. There's another match coming up soon. Speaking of which, the results of your match was definitely a surprise." Her eyes narrowed as a smile grew on her face. "I did not expect your team to lose, especially after the early advantage you guys managed to gain on team ABRN."

"Heheh, yeah… We didn't expect it either." I chuckled while rubbing the back of my neck.

Cinder nodded, letting out a hum. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened back there in the arena? Losing control of the situation like that seems so… out of place."

"Wha— I guess we just weren't expecting Arslan to put up that hard of a fight!" Another laugh escaped my mouth as a bead of sweat ran down my face. "I can't really say for the others, but I started hesitating the moment Blake went down. And well… I couldn't really react fast enough to Arslan pulling off a stunt like that. Shooting a Dust crystal and blowing us up, that's a plan just desperate enough to work on us. We did our best, but Arslan managed to get us by surprise."

"Really? Something as simple as that, huh?" The girl in the sarashi smirked. "My team had this crazy theory that somebody tampered with the tournament. That the odds were rigged to make your team lose when you had every right to win." Cinder shrugged her shoulders. "But good thing it was just a bad theory. After all, this is a festival promoting the unity of all of the Kingdoms. A place where people can share a common purpose. It would be a shame if such a festival was disrupted."

At that moment, Professor Port's booming voice echoed through the arena. "Welcome back to the Vytal Festival! It's now time—"

"Well, looks like the next match is going to start." The leader of CMEN turned back towards the arena. "I wonder who will be performing next— Oh wait, it was your sister team, right Ruby?"

I nodded. "The fight's between JNPR and… I think it was BRNZ. I think this fight is going to be really interesting. JNPR has a lot of strong people, especially with Nora and Pyrrha. Those guys alone can probably take on any team that gets thrown at them. But at the same time…" I glanced at Nolan's team walking onto the stage with a round of applause. "Team BRNZ is pretty good as well. Their sniper is a pretty good shot, and with the rest of her team defending her on the ground and distracting the enemies, she can deal a lot of damage."

"It seems like a good plan on paper." Cinder leaned her head against her uncovered hands. "A solid defense strategy. Also practical. There's a defensive line that can potentially protect non-combatants, and the dedicated damage dealer can whittle down anything trying to break through the line. Given enough ammo and time, the formation can hold as long as the line doesn't break. It's the perfect use of team cohesion for a solid goal." She sighed. "There's just one problem with it."

"Huh?" I turned to look at her. "What do you mean—"

Professor Oobleck interrupted me. "And now, let me introduce you to Beacon's team JNPR!" The crowd went wild, drowning out my voice and diverting my attention back onto the stage. I cheered with the rest of the crowd at the sight of my friends. Nora bounced forwards, waving towards everyone with a bounce in her step. Then out came Ren in a refined yet rushed manner as he chased after his childhood friend, barely giving a glance at the crowd. Pyrrha stepped out into the ring, taking long, regal strides. Several members of the crowd let out wild whoops and whistles at the sight of the Mistralian champion back in the arena. Then finally came out Jaune, scratching the back of his neck while giving the crowd a timid wave.

Port cleared his throat as JNPR took their spots. "Well then! This is going to be an exciting match! The only thing left to do is spin to determine where these combatants are fighting!" Everyone went silent once the symbols went up. Oh yeah! I should check on the stands now for anything happening. I closed my eyes, bringing me back to the sensation of 'seeing' the entire arena at once. My forehead wrinkled. Anybody doing anything suspicious?

Most of the movement I can make out is either the fidget of an individual or the bugs— ugh, crawling through the cracks. I shivered. Who knew that being able to sense that much movement would be so unnerving? But anyways, nobody's doing anything suspicious. And to be honest, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

I opened my eyes again to see a steep mountain and a dense forest surrounding the center stage. The two teams stood at the ready, bodies tensing for the event to come. I heard a hum escape from the Grimm Studies professor. "Let's not wait any longer! Begin!" Both teams sprung forwards, weapons out and already swinging.

Cinder turned to look at me again. "Right, so what were you going to say to me?"

My eyebrows sank in confusion. "Huh— Oh!" I nodded my head. "Yeah, that's right. What do you mean? By the problem with team BRNZ's strategy."

"I did say there was something wrong, huh… Well, think of it like this." Cinder gestured with her hand. "Taking on a defensive strategy is a good idea… when dealing with a creature that doesn't value strategy."

"You mean Grimm."

"It could be regular animals too, I don't discriminate. The point is that such a formation falls apart when facing a team of Huntsmen who are trained to go against other Huntsmen. Unintelligent creatures will just slam into the wall and die. But all a Huntsmen team has to do is find or create a chink in the wall for one person to slip through and go for the sniper. Now normally, a good defensive team would not let this chink form. But at your— our year, we don't always realize that. Look."

She pointed at the arena. Team JNPR was currently behind a giant boulder, hunkering down as several sniper rounds chipped away at the stone structure. Team BRNZ ran towards their opponents, breaking the line. Wait a minute… I narrowed my eyes. Now they're splitting up and fighting all of the members one-on-one? "Why in the world are they breaking the formation?"

"Exactly my point." Cinder crossed her arms. "The team is leaving the formation, their safest option to take down the enemy as soon as possible. Now the sniper's left open for attack, since going into one-vs-one combat means that one opponent will be free to attack the sniper. And even if one person can get into a two-vs-one fight, how long would it take until somebody realizes that they should take out the sniper? Then it returns back to the broken formation. Which brings up the question: why have a formation like that if all you're going to do with it is break it apart?"

"Well… maybe they need a way to flush out anyone hiding," I countered. "A sniper can only shoot what she sees."

"Possibly… but then why have all three members rush out? Why not leave one lone person to guard the sniper?" The girl snapped her fingers, creating a spark of flames. "There's no team cohesion; they're just doing whatever comes naturally to them without considering the bigger picture. They are failing at the goal set upon them."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"Eliminating the other team from combat." A smirk grew on her face. "This really is backwards, huh. All of this. Using a defensive strategy to fight an offensive battle. This kind of thinking hinders the potential of Huntsmen and their ability to protect others. And then these fights destroy the entire point of having this festival—"

"What are you saying, Cinder?" The girl looked surprised, amber eyes locking into mine. I continued: "You're not making much sense… the Vytal Tournament isn't the thing destroying the Festival, it's the highlight of the event! How does the tournament go against what the festival stands for?"

Cinder's smile dropped. "Right… This is difficult to explain… I guess the best way to go about it is to ask you a question." The girl adjusted her vest. "Tell me, what's the goal of the Vytal Festival?"

"Huh?" I narrowed my eyes. "Well… to create unity amongst Kingdoms."

She nodded her head. "Now what's the goal of a match between two teams in the tournament? what are they trying to do to each other?"

"They're trying to win and beat the other side."

"Right again. Now, we have teams from Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo fighting against each other, trying to eliminate each other in the name of 'unity'. And what do the champions of the tournament win? Bragging rights for their respective Kingdom. Now how in the world is that supposed to unite the people of Remnant?"

I let out a hum as I considered her words. "Well, it's friendly competition. We fight in a friendly environment to show that Remnans have moved past warring amongst each other. It shows that we can have conflict yet still be friends at the end of the day." Now that got Cinder's attention. Her mouth opened just a little in shock of what I just said. I scratched the side of my head. "Maybe it's not obvious since you didn't fight yet, but when my team fought, we weren't doing it to win. We were doing it to make our Kingdom proud. We fought in acknowledgment of Mistral's strength. It's like pups play fighting. It looks vicious, but they go back to being friends once it's over. We're just like that."

That shook her out of her funk. "I don't think so. We're not just individuals who can rough and tumble then move past it the next day. Huntsmen teams are bigger than that. They represent the might of the Kingdoms. Whether we like it or not, Remnans are influenced by a group mentality, showing loyalty to their Kingdom's respective Huntsmen team. And they get attached to their team to the point that they take any event personally. Maybe the Huntsmen feel just like what you think, Ruby, but the average civilian won't. They'll see loss, they'll see weakness, and they'll feel weak. They'll feel like losers, they'll feel anger for losing to another team, and that attracts Grimm. That's not unity."

I tried opening my mouth, only for Cinder to hold her hand up, hardening her stare. "I'm not done. Think about it this way. Competition is by its nature conflict. What these people do is put two groups together, give them opposing tasks, and ask them to put another group down in order to achieve said goal. That is not how you achieve unity. It's just deliberate infighting that people pay to watch. What is that supposed to teach us? That in order to be united, we should fight each other and promote a sense of tribalism? You might as well just throw out the Great Peace and just fight each other again on the battlefields! At least then, we wouldn't be lying to ourselves about what we're doing!"

She slammed her hands into the side handles and gripped them hard. Weiss and I reeled back in surprise as we watched the normally calm girl tense up. Cinder's breathing grew more rapid and shallow. Oh my gods… where did that come from? The black-haired girl let out a long sigh, slipping back into her seat. "Sorry. That was too far." She shook her head and grabbed the base of her nose. "Still, I just can't understand how big hypocrites we are for fighting each other in the name of peace."

A silence lingered between the two of us as we turned back to the match at hand. JNPR started to take the lead, pushing the line back while Nora started to scale the mountain. Cinder coughed into her hand. "Ruby, do you remember what I said way back? About me wanting to bring justice to Remnant? How I wanted to create a new world without suffering, struggling, or fighting?" Hmm… oh yeah, she did say something like that. I nodded my head.

Cinder continued: "This is what I mean. Our society is imbalanced. We say something, but then do another thing. All of us say we're doing this for peace and unity, but we fight each other and risk an attack from the Grimm. The Faunus were promised to be equal, but they still struggle with no end in sight. We promise to bring prosperity, but poor people struggle through life without any hope." She formed a fist with her hand. "And why is our society imbalanced? It's because there are tiny cracks in it. Cracks that we made with every tiny mistake we've made."

The girl relaxed. "It's like a ceramic pot. When it's first created, it's whole and unified. But over time, cracks start to form. A small bump here, a jostle there. It builds up, it fragments everyone, but it stays intact for now. And in the pot, some pieces are just bigger than other pieces. That is society. We say that we're together, but these cracks in society split it, creating conflicting interest. And some groups just have it better than other groups. They have more." She wrapped her hand around a fist.

"We might be holding up, still together, but we're not whole. And worst of all, no one wants to be whole. We insist on remaining cracked, remaining broken when what we need is to remake the pot, make it stronger, make sure it won't shatter again. We all need to be strong, we all need to go back and become a single thing. Then we'll be balanced. Then there will be justice."

I blinked once, then twice before letting out a squeak. Wow. Just… wow. What do Emerald and Mercury think about that? Before I could ask, four buzzers rang out soon after. "And the match is finally over!" Port yelled over the sounds of cheering. "Give a round of applause to team JNPR for their victory!" Wha— I turned to face the arena. Most of JNPR was panting, exhausted as can be. But they're all still standing compared to all of team BRNZ, who were all lying next to each other outside the arena.

One blink later, I found myself pushing myself up to a standing position, hands around my mouth. "YEAH TEAM JPNR!" I let out a laugh as I waved at my victorious friends. All of them waved back. My heart surged with pride. I should've expected this to happen. Of course they were going to win. Team JNPR has a ton of strong people, and Jaune is pretty smart with his Stand. It would be more of a surprise if they  _didn't_  win. But even then, it still made me happy that they're progressing into the next round. Jaune's now free to help out with the search for the White Fang, and we can continue our plan in earnest.

My knuckle rapped on the side handle next to my partner. Weiss yawned a moment later, standing up. "That was a good match. By the way, call me when you're ready to leave for the day."

Emerald stuck her head out. "Really? Where are you going?"

"Wandering around. Honestly, watching people fight isn't really my thing." The heiress brushed herself off. "I'm thinking I'll just explore the Amity Colosseum, enjoy the architecture, talk to people, broaden my horizons, all that."

The mint-haired girl cocked her eyebrow up. "So basically… heiress stuff?" Weiss shrugged her shoulders. Emerald nodded. "Hmm… okay, I guess." The mint-haired girl shrugged. "I mean I don't really understand why you wouldn't want to watch people fight when it's the one thing the Amity Colosseum has to offer, but that's your thing, I guess."

"Well, I watched this one to know how well my friends perform," Weiss countered. "There isn't anybody else that I feel like watching."

That caused Emerald to raise an eyebrow. "Oh? Nobody? There isn't anyone that you want to watch?" My partner shook her head. "No classmates, no potential rivals?" A grin formed on the darker-skinned girl's face. "Not even a certain blue-haired stud?"

Weiss's eyes widened. "How do you know—"

"About that guy on team SSSN? I mean come on, it was obvious right from the dance." Emerald leaned back in her seat, placing her hands behind her head. "Anybody on that dance floor could see those googly eyes you'd been giving him. Who wouldn't? He doesn't look that half bad for a guy who goes all Casanova with the hearts of several foreign girls. I think his match is coming up next, you know."

"Well— I mean—" Weiss turned beet red. "It didn't go anywhere! I'm over him, I swear!"

"Yeah… sure." Right now the mint-haired girl looked like she hit the jackpot with that grin on her face. "But go ahead and leave if you really feel that way. Sounds great that you've moved past your crush with him."

"I will." My partner nodded. "It's good to see you guys again." And with that, she started wading her way out of the stands.

Laughter broke out next to me as soon as Weiss was out of sight. I turned to see Emerald in a fit of laughter. "Oh, that face was priceless! She really does have a crush on the boy! Gotten over it, hah! She probably has a picture of him as her background image on her scroll."

Cinder stood up as well. "I'll leave as well. I'm going to need a bit of a break after what just happened. Watching these fights get me riled up way too easily. I'm thinking about just going back to Beacon to rest up. Maybe tomorrow I can find a bit more enjoyment in the fighting without worrying about all of the implications of it." She turned to look at her teammates. "Emerald, Mercury. You two enjoy yourselves. I don't want to spoil your fun."

"Alright then, Cinder." Mercury waved at his leader as she walked away. "So…" He turned towards me. "I guess it's just you, me, and Emerald then."

"Yup," I answered, scooting to fill in the space left behind by Cinder. My rose petals still don't show any signs of any major movement.

"Great!" Mercury grinned. "We'll have a grand old time together! By the way, how caught up are you with comics in general? Because the recent issue of X-Ray and Vav just came out, and there's a ton of great moments in there…"

* * *

All was quiet on the Beacon front as Yang and I walked through the streets of our school. There weren't a lot of people around our area, just a couple of students and staff walking around in the orange glow of the early evening. It was a nice change of pace from earlier today. I shuddered at the memories of way too many tourists storming Beacon, letting out oohs and ahhs as they made their way towards the fairgrounds. The suffocation of being in that crowd… Good thing most of them are watching the fights now. We don't need to deal with any more people like that.

My partner let out a groan, giving the area one more glance before turning towards me. "Still nothing… Blake, can we just move on? We've searched this one street to pieces, and there's still no sign of the Cupid. There's no point wasting any more time here." My eyes flitted towards Yang. It's true. We didn't see the Cupid in the area. But still, there could be something that could give us an idea of where it could be, like a nest, droppings or claw marks. All the usual signs of Grimm presence. But nothing. I knew that the Cupid was intelligent to a certain degree, but to be able to hide all of its tracks this well? We might need to change how we approach this.

"Right," I sighed. "I know this wasn't going to be easy, but this Cupid makes everything so much harder. There's no way to track the thing at all."

Yang let out another long groan as she walked towards a nearby bench and plopped herself down on it. "You'd think it would at least leave some kind of clue to where it could be. But without any way of tracking it down, what's the point? All we know is that it's somehow centralized around Beacon." My partner let out a hum. "Wait a minute…"

"What, Yang?"

"You know what? We might be thinking about this wrong." The blonde-haired girl wagged her finger. "We've been looking for the Cupid around public areas without any luck, right?" I nodded my head. "Originally we did this because we thought the Cupid would be more likely to pick out random people to hit with the Arrow."

I nodded. "That's true. But then Jaune told us how the enemy most likely picked its target, which is why we're looking for it now—" I stopped. Wait a minute… why are we looking for it in an open area? I said it myself, the Cupid most likely has no need to reveal itself. So why would it be in a public area? Anybody can see it, not just Stand users. So why cause a scene now? If anything, shouldn't it be in hiding until the attack?

My eyes widened. We're wasting our time. We could've just cut out searching the public areas of Beacon and focused on the private areas. Sewers, worker areas, dorms. That's where we need to search to find the Cupid. That's where it would do all of its business. And that means that we could potentially find out who is controlling the Cupid in the first place!

"Oh my gods Yang," I whispered, finally breaking the silence between us. "You're right. We're focusing on the wrong locations. We're not trying to look for where the Cupid could ambush any passerby. We need to know where it's hiding out." My faunus ears twitched at the thought of a lead. "The Cupid has to be working with somebody else. We need to check all of the private areas." I pulled out my scroll and started scrolling through several images of our school. "The Headmaster should have the staff areas under some form of surveillance, which means that we can just narrow our search to the dormitories. Now I should have this somewhere— Here!"

I stopped at a general floor schematic of our dorm building before showing it to Yang. "Three floors, twenty or so rooms each. This is a map of the building every student has been staying. It shouldn't be that hard to get a list from the Headmaster of who is roomed up with which room and check every team for any signs."

"Yeah… yeah! And we can take down whichever team has the Cupid, and save the day!" A grin grew on my partner's face. "Of course! The majority of the teams should be at the Amity Colosseum all day. Plenty of time to sneak into other people's homes and search them! Although…" The blonde girl let out a sigh. "How are we going to get in,? It's going to be suspicious if we just smash our way in. Maybe if the Headmaster gives us a master key—"

"No need. I have my Stand, remember?" I started summoning  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** before looking at Yang. Oh wait. She can't see my Stand. I shrugged my shoulders as I called it back. "But I can crawl under the door and get in that way. Then I can just let you in— Actually…" I held my hand up. "No, actually you're better off if you kept watch for any signs of the teams coming back."

"Huh? But—"

"Let me explain. The last thing we need is for somebody to walk into us searching somebody's room. No matter whose room we get caught in, that's going to alert the enemy that we're on to them." I let out a sigh. "We'll lose the only advantage we have against the White Fang and the Cupid. No matter how much easier and faster it would be if we both searched the rooms, we can't afford to get caught. That's why we have to do it like this."

Yang opened her mouth as if to argue, only to sigh in defeat. "Yeah, I guess. We did say we couldn't afford to mess this up. So, I guess we should go back and ask the Headmaster for the housing list?" She looked into the evening sky, whistling at the sight of drifting airbuses. "I think everybody's starting to come back right now, so we can't actually search today. But once we get the list, we can start our search first thing tomorrow."

I nodded. "Mmhm." We turned around and started towards home.

We were both silent during the trip back. "Blake," Yang asked after what felt like forever. "About being a Stand user… what is it like? I mean I know you haven't been doing it for as long as Ruby or Jaune, but you still must know enough to have some thoughts on it." I blinked. Being a Stand user… Gods, it hasn't even been a month since I've been hit by the Arrow. And within three weeks I wreck a cafe, fight through the streets of Beacon, watch a fellow faunus blow his brains out—

"Uh, Blake?"

"Huh?" I snapped back to Yang. She gave me a look of concern.

"You know, if you don't want to say what it's like I completely understand. It's just— I don't know, it never felt right to ask that in front of everyone when we're worrying about the end of the world and everything." Yang ran her hand down her hair. "But if the question's uncomfortable for you to answer, I can just stop—"

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking about how to answer the question. It's not that easy." I brushed my hair back. "I guess the best way to describe this is… overwhelming? It's a heavy burden to carry. Our Stand abilities strain our understanding of the world around us. We get into mind-bending fights that force us to think on our feet or risk dying. We often push ourselves to the limit just to win. And on top of that, the majority of the world can't understand what we can see." I glanced at Yang. "Well, you're one of the exceptions, and even then that's because of a coincidence."

I sighed. "It's very lonely. And that's saying a lot, I like to be on my own. At least with me going off on my own, I know I have somebody to come back to when I want company. But I can't go off talking about the Stands to anyone. I can't reach out to people and talk about the constant conflict we're expected to go through simply because we have Stands. We're lucky that we happen to have such a dense concentration of Stand users here."

My eyes flickered to the floating colosseum in the distance. "Once the tournament is over, it'll just be you, me, Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, and the Headmaster who knows about the Stands. Once we graduate, we might not even have each other, depending on how cruel fate is to us." I grimaced. "And we have to take this secret to our graves. No one will remember us for what we do right now."

Yang let out a long sigh. "My gods, Blake—"

"You don't need to say anything. We all accepted that this was bound to happen. At least to a certain degree." I brought my eyes back to the street in front of me. "Now that I think about it, every Stand user here received their Stands against their will. They didn't have any say on whether they wanted this life or not. In a sense, we're all cursed to fight for the sake of the world. And so we fight. To make sure that nobody else suffers. It's not the happiest life to live, but it's the one that is necessary to live through."

The blonde girl nodded her head. "I guess I understand… if only things were different. If none of team RWBY were hit by the Arrow—"

"Then we wouldn't know about the White Fang attack and then things would fall apart. As terrible as it is, at least we have a chance to do something and stop this terrorist attack from happening. Vale would be guaranteed to fall if we didn't know. At least now we have a chance to stop the damage."

We rounded the corner into the street our dorms are on. My partner continued: "Right, but still. It doesn't feel right— Wait a minute." Yang pointed a finger towards the building. Striding out from our dorm building were a pair of Atlesian soldiers, both chatting away with their rifles straddled in their hands. One of them had red highlights, the other in blue. Their tense, stiff posture got me to narrow my eyes. What in the world are they doing, and why were they in our dorm building?

"What are soldiers doing inside of our dorms?" Yang whispered. "Don't they have their own places to sleep in?"

"They do." I narrowed my eyes, boring holes in their helmets. Are they searching for something? Most likely. Unless these guys are voyeurs or something, which makes it even weirder. There's no way we can let them do whatever they want. We need to know why.

"Excuse me!" Yang waved as she started towards them. They stopped and tilted their heads to the side.

"Yang!" I hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Getting their attention, what else?"

"I mean you didn't have to do it like that!" My mouth curled into a frown as I followed Yang closely behind. "We could've just tailed them or something and that would be that!"

"And look even more suspicious for stalking a bunch of soldiers? I mean you said it yourself, the last thing we need is to alert the person with the Cupid. As crazy as it sounds, we also have to consider that the Atlesians could be the ones who have the creature. We can't catch their attention as well. And how do most people approach soldiers? In a friendly way." I let out a sigh. She's right on this one. Yang continued: "Hey! Can we have a talk for just a second?"

The two soldiers stopped, shrugging at each other as we approached. Yang gave her most pleasant smile, absolutely beaming with energy. "Hi, you two! How's your day been?"

"Uh… just the usual, I guess," the soldier in blue responded. "We're just doing typical soldier tasks."

"Oh, really?" My partner placed her finger on her lower lip. "I didn't know that typical soldier stuff included walking into the student dorms and doing whatever inside. I thought you would be standing around, guarding stuff and whatnot."

A confused hum escaped from the red Atlesian soldier. "Oh, we do that too. We're on patrol duty right now."

"It still doesn't explain why you're looking through the dormitories," I responded, crossing my arms. "I know my rights. All Remnans have the right to privacy from any military personnel. That includes living areas such as this building."

"Yup." Yang shrugged. "I mean it doesn't really look too good if people learn that the Atlesian military was looking through our stuff without a permit."

That got them shaken up. The blue soldier held his hands up. "Look, you're misunderstanding the situation—"

"Is that true?" My partner took a step closer towards the man in blue. "Then I don't think you'll mind me asking about what you're doing in there." Yang leaned forwards. "I don't have anything against you or the Atlesian military or anything. I'm just trying to satisfy my curiosity. I hope you're not doing anything bad to the future generation of Huntsmen, right?"

"Of course not!" The red soldier ruffled through his pockets. "We've been trying to explain to you that we do have a permit, right here!" He pulled out his scroll and opened it, revealing a digital document jointly signed by Ironwood and the Headmaster. "It's a standard search and sweep for any audio bugs and removing them. And it only covers the public areas of the dormitory. We didn't bother searching any of the student rooms."

"Oh." I gave the document a quick glance. From the looks of it, nothing seemed forged. The stamp on the bottom is the official seal of the Headmaster of Beacon. I looked back at the two men. "So that's it? No bigger search than that?"

"No, ma'am," the red soldier sighed. "We're not looking to get court-martialed for breaking Vale's rules. We were given a task, and we fulfilled it. Nothing past that!"

"Okay. Whew." Yang wiped her brow. "Glad to hear that Atlas' finest are just doing their job. We're really sorry for keeping you guys from your task. But yeah, that's really all we wanted to ask. Have a nice day!"

The two men nodded, the blue soldier speaking. "Okay. Good evening to you two women as well."

I focused on their talk after they walked away from us. The blue soldier started: "Hey, that was really weird."

"Yeah, right? Huntsmen are so paranoid these days. You do your job, and they think you're trying to sabotage them or something."

"Well granted, this wouldn't be a problem if we just had the permit in some obvious place. Then we wouldn't have these kids going off on us for doing our jobs."

"Hey! I'm not going to be the dumb-looking idiot who has a scroll attached to their chest or something!"

"And now we're the idiots who risked the wrath of two Huntresses over a search for some stupid audio bugs, which I might add, we found none of!"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Geez. I mean at least we don't have to worry about the specialist getting spied on while they're visiting the campus. Gods know how much trouble this would be for everyone if that was the case." Now that got my attention. Somebody was coming to campus?

"I know, right?" The blue soldier rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd rather not have my head served on a plate. I hope to gods we didn't mess up our job. But seriously, though. This is all on such short notice. I didn't think upper command scheduled a meeting for the specialist to come right now."

"Well, upper command does what upper command does. We're just the mooks making sure everything runs to plan."

A sigh escaped my mouth as I turned to Yang, who raised an eyebrow. "So? Anything interesting?"

"Apparently somebody's coming to visit the school soon. Some kind of specialist, from the sounds of it." I rubbed the back of my neck. "While I want to believe that the specialist is just going to be another member of the Atlesian military, it's kinda making me nervous. What if this specialist happened to be a Stand user?"

"Huh? But I thought that only a handful of people know about this!" Yang turned to look at the departing soldiers. "What are the odds that Atlas is aware of this as well?"

"It should be almost impossible. The Headmaster himself noted that this is a secret that he kept for the longest time." I bit my lip. "Coincidences happen all the time, but when you know that Stand users will always find other Stand users… We can't take the risk."

Yang let out a hum. "Well, following them won't be too useful. And well… maybe it actually is nothing. Think about it. The fact that they're doing this search must mean that the specialist coming here is going to be big news. People will talk about it. That's like, the opposite thing any Stand user should do, right?" I hummed. That's true… The girl continued: "And even if a Stand user was that arrogant, we won't have a problem observing them, simply because they are putting themselves out there."

Could it actually be that easy? I mean, Stand users have to be wily. It's the best way to use our powers efficiently. Yang is right in saying that being in the open is a pretty dumb move. But what if the show of power is a bluff— I shook my head. No, I'll go with Yang on this one. This specialist is likely not a Stand user.

I nodded my head. "Okay then. Should we go back inside and stop for the day? Just wait for Ruby and Weiss and discuss whatever happened with them?" My partner tilted her head to the side before nodding.

"Yup."

We were most of the way into the building when from the outside I heard the same Atlesian soldiers speed walk towards the landing pads. The blue soldier had his scroll up to his helmet. "Yes, ma'am, we checked the dorm building already, there are no bugs in sight… Mm-hmm, we're on our way right now. No, our tardiness is just us being thorough with the search— Wait, ma'am? Are you okay?" Hmm? What's this? I held a hand in front of Yang, forcing the both of us to stop.

"Blake, what—"

"Shh." I focused my ears towards the Atlesian soldiers.

"Oh, just an annoying crow, huh? It's pretty late for breeding season, though. Do you need assistance in getting it out of your hair?" The man nodded. "Okay then. We'll be there as soon as possible." They trotted away. There's only one thing that was on my mind at that moment: huh?

* * *

"Find anything, Weiss?"

I shook my head at Ruby, letting out a sigh as we traveled back to Beacon. The hums of the Bullhead engines rumbled throughout the vehicle. "No. Nothing. Couldn't find anyone wandering around the arena. You would think one of the White Fang members would try to attack me, considering my heritage, but nothing. They're being awfully patient." I shook my head. "Something's wrong with this. This shouldn't be the case, especially with Blake saying how long they planned this operation. There have to be a number of undercover White Fang members in the audience. But I can't find any signs of tampering or anything. It's like they're not planning on attacking the arena at all."

"And I couldn't find any suspicious movement, either. Nothing weird from JNPR's battle all the way to SSSN's fight. Whatever they're doing, they're really good at hiding their tracks. But what could they be planning?" My partner sighed, throwing her head onto the headrest. "Could we be wrong? Did that one White Fang dude give us false information? … No, they must be doing something. This is the best possible date for something bad to happen. And why would they plan something for months if they won't take advantage of the Vytal Festival?"

Why could that be? I sighed at the same time as Ruby. Are we not doing a good job of finding anything suspicious? I did only check the public areas for any explosives that could wipe out a ton of the crowd. Are they not trying to do that? Maybe they're trying to damage the infrastructure itself. I hummed. It does make a bit of sense. If the White Fang were able to attack the central core, they could sink the colosseum and kill a lot of people in the process. Seeing the floating symbol of peace on Remnant fall will catch the attention of everybody in the world and cause a ton of panic. I nodded my head. That's probably where I'm going to check next.

A soft bing rang through the speakers. "Good evening, Huntsmen," the PTA spoke. The two of us glanced at each other before looking at the speaker above us. Our pilot Cammy let out a soft snort before clearing her throat. "This is your captain speaking," she started with a snicker, before sighing. "I regret to inform you that our landing will be delayed for some safety concerns or something like that. The guys on the ground floor won't let me land, so you guys are kinda stuck here until we get the clearance. Until then, we're just going to fly around campus until I get something. You guys cool with that?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Ruby said. I sat up at the same time. What? This shouldn't be a thing during the Vytal Festival. Shouldn't they have checked the airships and the landing pads for any defects before the event starts in the first place? My lips curled into a frown. What in the world is happening? I turned to my partner. "That's odd. Ruby, can you look outside? What's going on down there?"

She nodded. "Sure thing." The black-haired girl turned to face the glass. I'm not really sure what the situation is, but I bet Cammy had a good reason for us to— Oh my gods!" She slammed her mouth shut.

"What?" My eyes widened. "What's going on?"

Ruby said nothing, instead gesturing to me as she scooted into her seat. I peered through the window and gasped. What the— are those shockwaves flying through the air? The crowd of people formed sort of a circle around the flying arcs. I narrowed my eyes. While I can't make out exactly who's down there, there was definitely two people fighting. Fighting during the Vytal Festival— oh my gods!

My partner must've had the same idea, grabbing me by the shoulders. "We need to get down there now. We can't let this keep going on."

I nodded. "But what are we going to do? Our weapons are still in our lockers, and we both know we suck at hand to hand combat. With so many witnesses, one of them is bound to be a Stand user and notice us."

She shrugged. "We'll just call our weapons during freefall." Ruby knocked against the side of the Bullhead. "Cammy, can you open the side door for us? Looks like there's a fight going on, and we're going to try and stop it before it gets worse."

"I know my instructor would yell my ear off for letting a passenger do that, but he's not here anymore. And you guys are big girls, you two can take care of this." The side opened up, letting in a rush of the cool autumn air. I shivered. It's so cold… Cammy let out a chuckle. "You're clear for the drop!"

My team leader grinned. "Thanks!" I pulled out my scroll at the same time as Ruby as she turned to look at me. "Ready, Weiss?"

"As much as I could be."

"On a count to three." I held my breath. "One, two… three! Banzai!"

"Banzai!" I yelled as we flung ourselves out of the Bullhead, letting gravity grab hold of us. My stomach knotted itself, wind whipped my face, the chill swallowed us whole. I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes. Anytime now… The hand of gravity yanked at my body, jerking me down towards the concrete surface below us. I felt my heart skip a beat. Oh gods!

No, now's not the time to panic. My body spread out wide. Weiss, keep your cool. I thumbed the emergency launch button. Remember the landing strategy. My scroll isn't ideal for focusing my glyphs at all, but I just need one well-placed glyph to stop all of this momentum. And Ruby… I glanced at my partner, her Stand trying to overlap itself with her body. No one would think about it too hard if she splattered on the ground as rose petals. Who am I kidding, she's going to be fine. I don't have that luxury. I need to focus on my survival.

I narrowed my eyes at the two clashing figures. Hmm… they stopped all of a sudden. That shouldn't be a thing. Are they not Stand users like we thought they were? Maybe it's two drunk tourists brawling it out? But that doesn't explain the shockwaves. No civilian is able to punch that hard. So it has to be two people fighting with weapons— wait, that means Huntsmen are fighting each other right now! I had to suppress a groan. Why? It makes no sense at all! Why have an incident like this during a celebration of peace? That doesn't matter. All we need to do is stop the fight from escalating. Which means landing between them.

Ruby must've had the same idea. From the corner of my eye, I could make out her bending her body towards the empty space between the two of them. I, on the other hand, readjusted my course to overshoot them. Landing in front of them will send a lot of shock to my legs, even with a glyph. I twisted the arm with the hand to aim at a particular pillar. But a bounce-off…

A black glyph formed on the marble structure. Moments later I twisted myself, landing feet-first. Gasps escaped from the crowd behind me followed by the sound of a bag of flowers slamming into the ground. With a zip I shot off from the pillar, landing within the cloud of rose petals before raising my hands up to the two combatants. "Stop this right now!" I yelled as Ruby rebuilt herself next to me. "This is a disturbance of peace!"

"Weiss?" My eyes widened at the sound of a familiar voice. Isn't that— I turned to look at my older sister in the eyes. She had a shocked look on her face, saber drawn and pointed in my direction.

"Winter?" I lowered my hand.

"Ruby?" My head spun around to look at my sister's combatant, a gray-suited man with a patchy beard. That guy knows Ruby? What in the—

At that moment my partner's head finished rebuilding itself to face the man. "Huh— oh my gods Uncle Qrow!" She instantly charged him, jumping on him with glee. "I can't believe you're here!"

"I could say the same, considering you fell from the sky." The man named Qrow narrowed his eyebrows. "Although I have to say, you really worked on your landing technique. Being able to land without Crescent Rose really shows how much you've improved. By the way, where is it right now?"

My partner let out a long 'oh' sound before chucking her scroll off into empty space. "Right… Weiss, toss your scroll in the open right now."

What? Why— And why can I hear whistling? My eyes widened. Oh gods, the rocket lockers! I slid my scroll away from me. One second later, my rocket locker slammed into the ground, sending concrete and dust up into the air. I waved it away, letting out a few coughs. Oh gods, that's foul! I took a couple of steps away. Okay… ugh…

"Alright, everybody step away!" Several Atlesian soldiers butted their way into the circle before turning around towards the crowd. "The incident is going to be resolved in an orderly manner, there's nothing to see here." After a few murmurs, the crowd started dissipating.

Once the dust cleared up, I let out a groan, turning to look at the two adults putting away their weapons. So… That happened. For some reason, our families are here, they were fighting each other and causing a commotion, and from the looks of it, they're not on the best of terms. I glanced at Ruby, who shot me a look of concern. This search just got weirder.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 5/11/2018**

* * *

**Arslan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 1**

"Hey, Arslan! Think fast!"

My hand moved before my mind even registered her words, snatching what felt like an apple out of the air. My eyes flicked up. The rest of team ABRN sat around a round table, enjoying the various Valean cuisine. Bolin and Nadir were enjoying fried bass and pasta respectively, both alternating between taking a bite and looking through their scroll. On the other hand, the skater girl in the hoodie had a foxy grin on her face, as if she was waiting for something. She twirled a spoon in what looked to be clam chowder.

"Reese…" I sighed as I placed the fruit on the wooden tabletop. "Please stop throwing food around the table. I thought we already established this."

That got her smile to morph into a small pout. "Aww… but why not, Ars?"

"Don't call me Ars," I muttered.

She ignored my request. "I mean, the Vale students did it too back at the beginning of the semester, so I don't see what's the problem. Why can't I throw food to get my best friend's attention?"

Nadir put down his scroll. "Well, duh. Of course you can't. And remember: it was the Vale students who turned the cafeteria into a war zone of sticky, disgusting slop. Like, ugh." He shivered. "It took way too many showers to get rid of all the soda that I got soaked in. That sticky feeling never quite leaves you… I feel like I need another shower just thinking about it."

"You know Nadir is correct, Reese," I said, nodding towards the boy. "The Vale students are weird, and it's not in our place to stoop down to their level. Just leave it at that."

The girl nodded, a smile returning to her face. "Aw, come on, Ars. I was playing around, girl. No need to be so uptight about it." Her face turned stone-cold in an instant. "But in all seriousness, are you okay?" Hmm? The green-eyed girl glanced side-to-side. "Like, you've been spending a lot of time on your own, and well, I still remember what happened during the beginning of the year." Sweat started slipping down her face. "Is… everything with your family okay?"

With that, she managed to get everyone's attention. Reese threw her hands up. "I mean, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to. That's completely fine, and we totally get that you want to keep your family life secret. But… at the same time… come on. You're still our team leader. You're still my teammate and partner." She rubbed the back of her neck. "And we still need you to lead us and be at your best." She let out a chuckle. "Heh… I can't believe I'm saying this. I'm the one who gave you the most trouble before we sorted our issues out—"

"You're right, in a sense." I took a bite out of a dinner roll before resting my chin on my hand. "You could say that I learned something recently that changed my outlook on things."

"That's pretty obvious," Bolin nodded, going back to his meal.

I ignored him. "I'm sure you guys are aware of how… awful my family situation is, and how we've been looking forever for the thing to stop all of it. Well, I can say that I managed to stumble upon my first real lead on the matter." I sat up. "Just think: I'm closer than any other Altan to finishing our generational saga once and for all. The lives my family lost, they're finally going to have some more meaning. We can finally go back to our normal way of life. I guess I got excited because of that, and I had to chase after it."

My eyes closed as I let out a hum. "I didn't want you guys to worry, but clearly that didn't work out. That is all on me. I, out of everyone here don't want a repeat of our initial days. So I'll be honest. This revelation will probably occupy a lot of my thoughts, and I won't always be at my best going forward. But at the same time, I trust that team ABRN can still stand proud even if I'm focused on this. I'll still be there for everyone. On my family name, I promise that."

Everyone nodded, satisfied with the answer I gave them. I looked up. The sky looked beautiful, with its nice, orange glow. It was so relaxing, so soothing, so inviting. It almost made me forget about all of the problems looming over us. Almost.

But we can't afford to ignore the problems coming up. All of the research I've done has made that quite clear. Incidents with the fantasma velos have been going on for the past two months. Ruby Rose getting turned into a Stand user. Her incident with one of the ancient Grimm. The sudden attack in the recreation room on campus. The cafe being attacked. The anger incident on campus. My mind went back to that day. Being locked in my room with my teammates trying to break down the door was quite the experience, that's for sure.

And to top it all off, team RWBY and their other friends are expecting an attack to happen anytime now. I glanced back at the rest of my teammates. It's scary, knowing something horrible is going to happen and I can't really do much about it. I rubbed the base of my eyes. All of these events, all somehow slipping under my eye until the simulation… how could've I been so blind to all of this? When Stand users should easily be drawn to other users, how did I manage to avoid all of this chaos until now?

I balled my fists up on the table. That doesn't matter now. I'm in it now, and I'll make sure I do my part to keep all of Remnant safe. A sigh escaped my mouth. I know my deal with Ruby was to help her in finding the Arrow, and with what we know, we might actually obtain it soon. But if the rumors of a White Fang attack are true… then I need to make sure that nothing goes wrong in the process.

I pulled out my scroll and started typing up a message.  _Hello Ruby,_ it started.  _I want to meet with you to talk about the Arrow and the potential attack on the Amity Colosseum. Do you have time today?_

With a press of a button, I pocketed the scroll and listened to Nadir's conversation with Reese. "So there's this weird Huntsmen team I ran into around, yesterday I think? Their name was…" He snapped his fingers a couple of times. "What was their name? It was something real dirty, and apparently, they went to our school… Stuck-up mint-haired girl, snarky kick fighter, mysterious femme fatale-esque leader—"

"Oh, you mean CMEN?"

The boy snapped his fingers. "Right! Them! I thought it was something like that! So you know the weird thing I've learned is that they're permanently down a team member. I don't exactly remember the reason, something about having to go back home for some emergency treatment or something like that. But I ran into them while they were meeting with one of the referees early this morning. Turns out that because they don't have the required amount of people, they had to be pulled from the match. And Reese, you won't believe it. Team CMEN got so pissed at the referee! It was an absolute mess!"

He let out a chuckle. "Like seriously, what happened after that freaked me out. The femme fatale girl, her name was… Cinder, I think? She tried to argue with the referee on it, insisting that the three of them were strong enough to take on their opponents, but the guy would have none of that. And holy— she looked so peeved! When that girl gets angry, she gets angry. I could feel the sheer hatred just wafting from her. Like, I didn't want to touch that with Bolin's quarterstaff expanded all the way."

"But I have to admit, she can recover pretty quickly from something like that. Maybe a couple of minutes after the referee shut her down, she had this apology for him and acted all respectful. But right after they were out of earshot of the guy, team CMEN just went ham on insulting the guy. Like, they were absolutely disrespectful towards the dude. Well, Mercury and Emerald in particular. They were like guard dogs, just all uppity and raring to get back at the referee. Cinder for some reason had to be the person to talk them down from trying anything. I mean, I don't think they're going to try anything. But I just had this weird image in my head that team CMEN were like mafioso or something."

I let out a sigh, resting my chin on my hand. "And what was the point of talking bad about CMEN? They can't participate in the tournament at all, and with how security is recently, any incident will bring a lot of attention to them."

He shrugged. "It was an interesting story to tell, so I told it. Do I need any other excuse?"

At that moment, my scroll buzzed. Oh? I took it out. A text from Ruby.  _Hi Arslan,_ the message started.  _Can't do 2day. Hve ppl 2 wtch. Meet Amity tmrw. Have time then._ Well then. That's a shame. Still, knowing that she's available is a good sign.

I stood up, letting out a yawn while I rolled my shoulders. "That was a good meal," I declared. "I'll be taking a walk now. No fights for us tomorrow, so enjoy the rest of your night."

**「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** appeared behind me. I'll do whatever it takes to prevent this attack from happening. I promise that on the Altan name.

**=TBC=**


	36. Seeing Things

I scratched the side of my head. "Wait, the Headmaster asked you to come here, Uncle Qrow?"

My uncle nodded, letting out a chuckle as the two of us made our way back towards the dorms. "Yup. Ozpin said he needed me in Vale in order to get something done, and I thought: why not take a detour and check in on you brats? After all, your team is competing in the Vytal Tournament. Well, was." He rubbed the top of my head, forcing a whine out of my mouth. Qrow let out a sigh right afterward. "It's a shame, seeing your team beaten in such a close match. I would love to see your team compete more, and I'm sure your dad does, too."

"Yeah," I chuckled, rubbing the back of my neck. "That's a shame, indeed. Oh man, I really wanted to win that tournament, and everybody else on RWBY as well." I rolled my eyes. "But I guess it wasn't meant to be."

"No doubt." Qrow placed his hands in his pockets. "Don't let that thing get to you, though. Funny thing about failures: you get the chance to learn from them, figure out what you need to change to get better. And out of all of the things you can fail at, I'd say a sanctioned fight is the perfect place to fail." The man stroked his chin. "You know… if you want, I can offer your team a couple of pointers. I watched your match on my way here, and I can think of a bunch of ways you guys could improve."

"Uh…" I let out a nervous chuckle. "That's nice, but no thanks, Uncle Qrow. I mean, I would love to do some training with you again, but it's kinda, well… we want to watch the rest of the Vytal Festival."

His face dropped into an exaggerated pout. "Aww… can't spare your lonely uncle a couple of hours of quality training time? Come on, don't you like the good ol' days when I taught you everything about scythe fighting?"

"Wha— No!" I felt my face heat up. "It's not like that! I loved learning how to use the scythe with you, but it's just—"

A grin broke into his face as he let out a chuckle. He held a hand out. "I'm just kidding, Ruby. Plus, that's not what I meant." He ruffled my hair, getting me to whine yet again. "I meant after the Vytal Tournament. You should have a break from school after all of the festivities. Should be for both Signal and Beacon, if I can read a syllabus correctly. I can take you punks into the wilderness or something to train, if you're up for it."

"Really?" A smile grew on my face. "That would be awesome—" I stopped. Wait a minute… What if we fail to capture the Cupid by then? Even if we managed to stop the White Fang right here, if the Cupid's still around after all this, then it can just make more Stand users. And yeah, we're trying to stop a terrorist act, but who said they won't try again if the attack fails the first time through? We have to consider that the bad guys are looking for someone, the Stand user that can end the world. We have to find that person before they do. Whoever this mystery user is, we need to find them before they get captured. But how are we going to do that? Does the Headmaster already have a plan for that—

"Hey." Somebody waved their hand in front of me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Uncle Qrow looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "We're here. This is where you live, right?" I blinked as we stood in front of my dorm room. Oh… right. I nodded. The man let out a hum before shrugging. "Well, we can hold off on that thought for now. After all, the decision does involve your entire team, and your partner is with the Ice Queen, after all. We can wait. But for now, I wouldn't mind taking a nap." He let out a yawn. "Traveling all day before sparring takes a lot out of a man."

I nodded, reaching for the doorknob before the door flew open. "Oh, really?" Yang's head popped out the door frame, a big grin already plastered on her face. "Is just traveling tiring you that much these days? Oh man, you're getting old, Uncle Qrow. You sure your feathers aren't graying up?"

"Heh. Says the girl who was literally beaten down during the Vytal Festival. As for the quip about my age…" He combed his hair back. "You see these? My plumage is still beautiful and silky black. These babies aren't going to gray anytime soon, Yang."

"Heh. Nice to know." My sister stepped out and gave my uncle a hug. "It's great seeing you again, Uncle Qrow."

"You two, squirt." He gave Yang a squeeze before letting go. "You don't mind if I come inside, right?"

"Yeah sure, of course. There's no one else inside aside from my partner, Blake. And she's doing her own thing, so she won't bother us."

"I don't mind," Blake called out from within. "I'm just reading anyways. Just pretend that I'm not here."

"You know that's the exact thing you say if you want me to annoy you, right?" Uncle Qrow let out a chuckle as he stepped into our room. "In all seriousness, don't really feel like doing that. I'd rather pester my adorable nieces." He walked over to our hologram projector and turned it on. "Anyone up for a game?"

"Of course!" Yang leaped down onto the floor, scroll already open and ready. "I've been waiting for this moment! Uncle Qrow, I challenge you to a game of Killer Kombat! First to five wins, no time limit. I've been training with Tanya for months now, waiting for this opportunity. Your win streak with Kung Lao ends now!"

"Well, if you want to lose, then by all means. Stick with the one character I can hard counter. But challenge accepted." He stretched, plopping right next to Yang as we opened his own scroll up. "You ready to get your butt whipped?"

"Oh, it's you who's going to lose this time around, old man." My sister grinned. "You've probably haven't been playing this game as much as I have. You're toast!"

"I wouldn't say that…" Qrow gave a smirk of his own as he spun his scroll in his hands. "Trust me, sometimes Huntsman business means you get a lot of free time to yourself. Especially as a teacher. You can't believe how bored I get after I finish overseeing the kiddos design and build their weapons. Teaching kids to fight means little paperwork afterward, which is nice, but I need to fill my time somehow."

Yang's smile dropped. "Wait, so… oh…" She paled as her brain processed the information. "Uh… How much free time would you hypothetically have?"

"On average? Maybe a few hours each day. Enough time to grind my way up to Master Killer plus two stars." He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really that impressive, if you ask me. I'm sure you're way better than me if you're bragging this much about your skills."

I've never seen Yang's eyes grow so big in so short of a time. I covered my mouth and struggled to swallow my laughter. Last time I checked, Yang only just broke into the Killer tier. I have no idea if she even made it to Master Killer, let alone reached the top thirty-two leaderboard to receive even a single star. But if Uncle Qrow wasn't lying about his skills, then Yang is in for a world of hurt.

"Uh… hey!" I decided to scoot myself next to Yang. "So, you know how you said that you were called in by the Headmaster to do something in Vale?" Qrow hummed, hitting a couple of buttons before nodding. "I know this is probably a secret and all that, but what is it that you're trying to do in the city during the Vytal Festival?"

"Ooh, well you see, you already answered your question." The screen turned dark, before starting up the beginning intro of ninjas staring down each other. "It's a secret. I mean, if Ozpin is asking you to do something, it's usually something that's really important to keep quiet. You know, 'the end of the world as we know it' kind of stuff. Ozpin gets a bit dramatic like that." That line got everybody looking. I could even make out Blake leaning a little closer towards the center, bow twitching with anticipation.

"Heh… I mean, yeah I mean that makes sense." I rubbed the back of my neck. "But maybe you can clarify a bit? Like, what do you mean by 'the end of the world?'"

"That depends on his mood. Sometimes the end of the world is a colony falling. Sometimes it's more menial stuff. I remember one time when he had to go cold turkey on coffee back when I was still a student. He'd give me extra credit if I managed to get him a working coffee machine. Heh. Those were good times." His face turned serious. "But sometimes… it's real serious."

"It's serious?" Yang asked, throwing a glance towards our Uncle. "Like, how serious?"

"Serious to the point where I can't tell you right now." Everyone in the room let out a groan, causing the middle-aged man to laugh. "What? Did you guys really think that I would just tell you? This is my job right here. Hell, I wouldn't even be talking about this kind stuff if Ozpin didn't tell me that he was planning on telling you guys anyways and that it's okay if I 'accidentally' allowed this to get out right now." It felt like the temperature in the room dropped a couple of degrees.

"… What are you talking about, Uncle Qrow?" I laughed, trying to hide the sweat drops forming on the base of my forehead. "Didn't you say that this was supposed to be some kind of secret between you and the Headmaster?"

"Officially. But again, you guys know what's going on. Might as well give the info to you know then let Ozpin say it." He glanced at the window. "Yang, make sure the window's closed. Ruby, make sure the door's locked. Huh? I got up and locked the bolt. Behind me, I heard the window close. Both Yang and I returned to our spots.

"Good." Uncle Qrow sighed. "Well, I'm supposed to pull double duty. First one's me patrolling the streets of Vale and searching for danger. I trust Ozpin on this one. He's got good instincts, and if he wants me here, then something's going to happen there. It's the second task that worries me. I'll keep the details as vague as possible, but I'm supposed to look for a particular person with… extraordinary powers. He said that I won't know who the person is or what they look like, but there's a particular tool I can use to find them. Then I guard them with my life." What? So the Headmaster has a plan for the mystery user? That's good.

Uncle Qrow leaned back. "Problem is that these extraordinary powers are beyond my comprehension, well, according to him, anyway. Something about me being unable to see them, let alone being able to figure out how they work. Funny, since I figured Semblances were already hard enough to understand." Another sigh escaped his mouth as he fumbled through his shirt. "Hell, I don't know if you guys understand what I'm trying to say. This feels like one giant mess."

A silver flask appeared in his hands. He made to uncap it before Yang shot a glare at him. "Uncle Qrow…" she growled.

"Right, right. 'No drinking in front of the brats,' I remember." My uncle slipped the container back into his pocket. "But I'm getting really bad vibes about this. A part of me is telling me that I'm way over my head. That little voice in the back of my mind is screaming 'this will not end well, don't do it.' This is going to be a tough job, indeed. To realize that there's something beyond my understanding is absolutely unnerving."

"It is," I sighed, nodding my head with him. "Nothing about this situation is easy."

"No kidding. These powers must be causing you girls a lot of trouble, huh?" My eyes widened. What? Uncle Qrow chuckled. "What, you didn't think I wouldn't figure out why Ozpin would let a team of Huntresses-in-Training know about something so top secret? I figured it out the moment he described you selectively turning yourself into flower petals. Genius you are with weapons, I've seen you train with your Semblance. That's not how it works at all." He looked around the room. "And I assume the rest of you are in the same boat as Ruby?"

"No…" Yang's shoulders drooped as she shook her head. "I didn't get them. The rest of team RWBY did, though."

"Really?" The man let out a hum before nodding his head. "Okay then. The point still stands. I'm the one who has to run into the situation blind and hope for a miracle, but, for some reason, the responsibility rests on you girls. This time around, it's your job to try and save the world. And that sucks, especially for you kids. You girls should be worried about stupid stuff, like who to bring to the ball, whether or not you pass a class, how to repair your weapon when the Dust store closes early, all that teenager stuff."

We all glanced at each other with doubting glances. I don't think we've ever done normal teenager stuff ever since we came here. Qrow continued: "Having these kinds of burdens are taxing, especially when you're this young. But then again, the world's not going to sit around and wait for you guys to graduate before going wrong. You're stuck in this situation. And you guys just have to wade through it, as harsh as it is." He sighed. "And as much as I want to take this burden off your shoulders, that's not going to happen. But while I can't take the burden off of your shoulders, what I can do from my end is try to minimize the load you guys have. You got that?" Everyone in the room nodded.

A grin grew back on his face as he lifted his controller. "Good. So, enough of the morbid chat. You ready to lose again, Yang?"

"You'll be surprised when you're the one on the ground, old man!" The two of them zeroed in on the screen, selecting their characters.

I let out a sigh. So Uncle Qrow's a part of this, too. The group of people trying to stop the Cupid is growing big fast. I guess the Headmaster decided to set aside the secrecy rule in order to stop the attack… But then again, I should stop thinking about this. A smile crawled up my face as my sister and uncle prepared themselves for a fight for the ages. We have a growing group of people, all willing to keep the Kingdoms safe. We'll stop the Cupid. We'll keep this world safe. Together.

* * *

The sun gave off an apricot-colored glow, basking the two of us with its warmth as Winter and I walked through Beacon's garden. The area itself wasn't really that impressive. I've been to other, grander gardens with intricate shapes trimmed into the bushes, exotic plants most eyes would never see, specially crafted stepping stones as part of a garden trail. And the flowers— Other gardens would have these beautiful patches of flowers that would bring a ton of color to the overall environment.

Compared to all that, Beacon's gardens looked like a hack job. The plant life here was well-trimmed, but took on unremarkable shapes compared to the other gardens I've seen. I felt the crunch of the gravel underneath me every step I made, the material feeling relatively cheap compared to other gardens. While the place did have a flower patch, the rapidly cooling weather meant that the vibrant colors of before gave way for the browns and reds of the autumn season. The quality here felt noticeably worse than in other places, but at the same time, there's a more homely feel to this place. Like it wasn't meant to impress others, but to simply be. It's comforting compared to the more showy gardens out there.

My shoulders started to relax. To be honest, I've never spent any time here. The atmosphere is nice compared to the one back at the Schnee mansion. But at the same time… I don't know, they reminded me too much of home and how mom would spend all of her days within it drinking red wine… I shook my head. There's no need to worry about her. She's doing her own thing. That shouldn't affect me in any way. And that's her loss, anyways.

Winter straightened her back before taking in a breath. She let out a long exhale as we walked towards the pagoda in the center of the garden. "It's a lovely day, don't you think?"

"Yes, sister," I replied in the usual curt manner. "The fall evening really does make everything look warm, doesn't it—"

"You can drop the formal attitude, Weiss." My sister's body relaxed up. "There isn't going to be anyone bothering us here. My men made sure of that. And besides, I wouldn't mind having a more casual conversation with you. It would be a nice change of pace after several years of acting prim and proper." The corner of her lip curled up. "For once, there's no need for appearances and worrying about reputation. It's a rare opportunity for me."

We walked up the steps of the wooden pagoda. She gestured to one of the tables, revealing an already prepared tea set, including cups. "Have a seat. It's oolong tea, although I couldn't get tieguanyin leaves this time around. It's darjeeling this time around." She sighed. "I personally would prefer the former, but orders for tieguanyin got backlogged for some reason, so I couldn't get any. I hope this is fine."

"No no, I think it'll be good." I took a seat, Winter following closely. "I think spending an entire year at Beacon increased my tolerance to the quality of food most people enjoy. The change won't be so noticeable for me."

My sister nodded. "Okay." We both sat in silence as she started pouring out the drinks. "So…" she started after a long pause. "How have your studies been? Have you been eating well? Are you making friends?"

"I'd say yes to all of those." I sat up a bit. "The curriculum, while intense, isn't harder than any of the stuff our tutors taught us. We just have less time to pick up everything. Nothing a bit of good time management couldn't solve. Eating hasn't been a problem for me, so no issues there. As for friends, I've been making a few here and there. It's mainly with my team, though. I like to spend time with them more than anyone else."

"Oh, really?" Winter handed me my tea. "That doesn't sound too far off from my experience. I think during my time at Atlas Academy, I only really spent any significant amount of time with my battle team. But how are your teammates? Are they treating you well?"

"Well, yes. There's Blake, who likes to read a lot of novels. Before we had a… rocky relationship with each other. We didn't agree with a lot of stuff, especially with how the SDC is currently being run. It smoothed out as the year went on, though. Now we often give each other recommendations for books to read, we hold study sessions together." Winter nodded, continuing to sip her drink. I continued: "Then there's Yang, who is intense. She's just a ball of passion, and she helps me out with fashion advice. We also talk music. Then there's Ruby, my partner and team leader."

"The one who dropped in with you?"

I nodded. The corner of my lip curled up. "Where to begin with her… she's a weird one for sure. She's hyperactive, optimistic to the extreme, scatterbrained to a degree. When I first met her, she sneezed on some of my Dust, and nearly blew up the plaza in the process! It didn't help that after she became team leader, she would get on my nerves with her childish attitudes, especially since she's two years younger than the average Huntsmen-in-Training. I initially thought I should've been team leader instead of her."

"Hmm… that doesn't paint a good image for your team leader, that's for sure." Winter took a sip out from her cup. "You don't really see her that way anymore from what I can see. What changed, if I may ask?"

"She started trying. Ruby started realizing the issue of her being leader, and she started shaping up. She started going through the material that she skipped due to her early entrance. She pushed herself harder during combat training. Ruby reigned back her more annoying tendencies in order to be the team leader that we need." I sighed. "And recently she's been showing her more serious and focused side that is nothing short of awe-inspiring. I can say that without a doubt that I'm proud of being her partner and teammate."

"That is impressive," Winter nodded. She set down her drink. "It's like an underdog story like you'd see in a movie. Someone at a disadvantage climbs their way to the top, gaining respect from other people in the process. It's not something you see a lot in the world. I have nothing but respect for that determination to work to where she is right now."

"Right." I set my drink down as well. "By the way, if you don't mind me asking. What brings you here to the Vytal Festival? I thought you were supposed to be stationed on the east coast of Solitas. Wasn't a pod of giant naval Grimm spotted near there?"

"There was, but then I got an assignment change," my sister sighed. "The General decided that my being here is more beneficial to Atlas than being on the frontlines of a potential invasion. It meant leaving the majority of my men to stand and defend Solitas from the Grimm storming the arctic beaches. And while an aerial cruiser is stationed there, I still have my personal doubts about my assignment here." Winter started pouring another cup of tea for herself. "After all, I can't make heads or tails of the assignment that he gave me."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "How important is this assignment?"

"In his words: 'a matter of life-or-death for all of Remnant.'" I shivered. Wait a minute… what assignment would Atlas give that's that important, more important than the Grimm attack? If the situation is that dire, then that means they— no. I resisted widening my eyes. Does Atlas know about the Arrow and the Cupid? I mean, I can't imagine any other life-or-death situation that would affect all of Remnant. If that's true… Have they been hiding Stand users from us the entire time?

"Wow," I managed to say. "That sounds… really serious. Are you sure that this is something you can do on your own? It seems like a big responsibility for just one person."

"Oh, there's no need to worry, Weiss." Winter laced her fingers together. "While I just might be one person, I am powerful in my own right. After all, you're talking to the woman who graduated cum laude in her class, as well as one of the few military personnel with the title of Specialist at so young of an age. And I do have some new skills that I gained during my time working for the General." She rested her hands on my shoulders. "I will be fine."

I resisted reacting to her touch. Is it just me, or is she trying to do something to me? I think it's supposed to be comforting. She is my sister, after all. But after that revelation… I have no idea what she can do to me if she's a user like me. … Am I going to have to fight my own sister? I bit my lip. And I'm alone, too. I have no backup coming anytime soon. Do I just sit here? Do I see if there's a way to get out of this situation—

Her scroll buzzed right then and there. Winter sighed, letting go of me. "Sorry, but I have to take this." She pulled out the scroll, her eyes narrowing as she read through the message. "Oh, I'm going to be late." My sister rubbed the base of her forehead. "Sorry Weiss, but I have to cut this short. The General wants to have a meeting with me."

"Oh, it's fine," I chuckled. A sweat drop slid down my neck, sending a shiver down it. "That's understandable. The work of a Specialist must be busy, after all. You go on ahead with the meeting. I'll clean up the tea set." I started stacking the plates. "Where do I put them?"

"There's a container over there. No need to wash the tea set, just do a basic rinsing. I can put them in a dishwasher back on my ship." She stood up. "But thank you, Weiss. It's great to have a talk with you after so long. Stay true to yourself, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay." I watched her walk off.

A groan escaped my mouth after a couple of minutes. It was a storm of thoughts in my mind as I placed the tea set back. I felt like I wanted to scream right then and there. My gods, the paranoia is getting to me. I can't even trust my own sister anymore. What has my world come down to, where I'm worrying about what my sister could be? She cared for me, just as much as I cared about her! Why should I be doubting her and her goals?

I guess I have to. Because now I know that Atlas has at least one Stand user in their ranks, and they're likely looking for the Cupid and the Arrow as well. This is complicated. Really, really complicated. I sighed. If Winter turned out to be a Stand user, would I have the courage to fight her? Am I willing to attack and potentially kill my own sister for the sake of the world? It's such a hard question, but I can't help but think about it. She might be stronger than me, but I must have more experience than her. Winter would have to figure out the Stands on her own, while I have everybody else to help me learn.

My eyes glanced at the lone teacup outside the box. In the center was the Schnee crest. Family. Winter is still family to me. And can I kill family? In the cup went into the container before I closed it shut. I really hope I don't have to find out.

* * *

The only sound audible in my office was the gears rotating above us. I let my mind wander as I stared into those revolving parts. It takes me way back… back when Beacon used to be an outpost. This tower, back when it was first built was supposed to be a combination between a clock tower, lighthouse, and watchtower. It allowed those stationed here to watch the city for any potential invaders, and it also served as a way to track time back when watches were still expensive to own.

I remember sitting here for the first time, back before the Great War. There was nothing but undeveloped land surrounding a small Kingdom. Looking out right now revealed a massive sprawling megacity, showing just how powerful Vale had grown since its young days. Oh, how times change.

Now that I think about it, it was here where I first met her, wasn't it? I closed my eyes. Yes, that's right. She was in charge of sending a signal down to the town if there was a sighted attack. I was supposed to ring the bell for the outpost. It was just the two of us, just staring out into the Emerald Forest and listening to the sounds of the gears turning and clicking. I let out a soft chuckle. Our first talk was just us stuttering and one-word sentences. To think that she would be my partner… I rubbed the base of my left ring finger only to feel nothing but flesh. That's right… she's gone now.

My eyes fluttered open. I can feel my eyes water. The gears above me blurred with my tears. It's so strange… it's been so long since that incident. I should've moved on by now. I'll never see the woman I loved ever again. But for some reason… I can't. For years I thought I managed to keep moving forward, leaving that old life behind. But the past keeps catching up. It never wants to stay back. And the Cupid… a child manipulated by its mother. She won't stop, even after all these years. And now this generation is going to pay.

A groan escaped my mouth as I sat up and clicked a button on my desk. A hologram reappeared, showing a scanned copy of the pages of a tattered book. One of the manuscripts Fox brought in Thursday. JoJo's work… somehow he's still helping us, even from the grave. He gave us another chance to fix our mistakes, another chance to truly end the fight once and for all. I lowered my head and closed my eyes. JoJo… I won't fail you. We'll make sure we bury the threat once and for all.

I sat back up the moment I heard the elevator ding. Wait, are they already here? I wiped the tears out of my eyes, turned off the hologram, and recomposed myself. I made this promise not too long ago, I'll make it here again: no more will anyone suffer for the sins of their grandparents. And for those who suffered due to the Cupid, I'll do whatever I can to ease your burden.

The elevator doors opened, revealing both Qrow and Winter. The two Huntsmen had their arms crossed, shooting daggers with their eyes at each other. I could feel the temperature of the room drop a couple of degrees just being near them.

"Ahem," I coughed. The two of them looked up.

"Headmaster Ozpin!" Winter tensed up, getting into the soldier position for being at ease. "Thank you for inviting me into your office."

"The pleasure's all mine," I responded, waving the two into the room. "Please, come in and have a seat." My hands glided over my desk, tapping several prompts. "Forgive me for not preparing any refreshments of any kind. Is just water fine?"

Specialist Schnee nodded as she sat down. "That will do." I stood up and started for the counter. "Where is the General? I thought that he was going to be here for the meeting."

A hum escaped my mouth. "He is, just not in person. The General is needed on the cruiser right now, so he'll do this conference by video. All we're really waiting for is for him to connect to the CCT."

"Ah, I'd expect nothing less from our dear old friend Ironwood," Qrow called out. I could make out the sounds of a cap being unscrewed, followed by the sounds of swallowing. The man let out a sigh. "I'm sure whatever he's working on right now is so much more important to deal with then the end of the world as we know it."

"I never quite said 'end of the world,' Qrow." I placed the glasses of water on my desk. "'The end of Remnan civilization' is closer to what I said."

"What's the difference, Oz?"

"You'd be surprised at how different those two concepts are, Qrow." A buzzing noise cut in, a hologram with James' flashing face popping up. A giant answer button glowed below it. "But we're not here to argue about semantics. I believe we're here to have a meeting about the tasks you two have." With that, I hit the answer button.

James' video flickered in, revealing the man himself sitting in the cockpit of his flagship. "Good evening to you all," he started. "I'm sorry for not being able to meet in person. I hope the video call won't distract anyone."

"Not at all, James." I leaned towards the other two Huntsmen in the room. "Now, I'm sure the two of you are confused by the details of the mission you've been given."

Qrow let out a snort. "No kidding, Oz." He sat up. "One: I'm supposed to look for an individual who has a power vaguely similar to my sister's, and you want me to make sure I find this person by using this." He pulled JoJo's amulet and slammed it onto the table, sending the pointer spinning before it pointed towards me. "A compass with a weird damascus-style metal as the indicator. I swear, all this hokey-pokey magic you've been raving about is straight out of 'Raiders of the Mistralian Sea.'"

I sighed. "Qrow, I've shown you myself and proven to you several times that this is real."

"And I was being facetious, I never said I didn't believe you." The man let out a groan. "No, but on top of all that I'm supposed to keep watch over the entire city, figure out where the White Fang are planning to make their attack, and somehow stop them, all while protecting this said mysterious individual? All by myself?"

"You also have Specialist Schnee by your side," I countered. "She is officially here to watch over the city in case of a White Fang attack."

"Of course." Winter gave her partner a smug look. "And besides, doesn't your Semblance mean that you'll always be able to find trouble, no matter what the case is?"

"I see somebody has exactly zero understanding of how abstract 'bad luck' is," Qrow countered.

James sighed. "That's enough, you two. We still need to focus on the topic at hand. Let Ozpin finish explaining."

"Thank you, James." I adjusted my position. "Going back to my previous statement, while Specialist Schnee is officially here in case of a White Fang attack, we all know that the Atlesian army is here to deal with that and the potential Grimm that would be attracted to the negative feelings a terrorist attack would cause. So, she'll be with you during your time in Vale. She can also be a bit of help if—"

"Right, right. If the White Fang happens to see spirits and attack us." Qrow let out yet another sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Don't get me wrong, I think this isn't going to go well. At all."

The man in the video call cleared his throat. "We never said it was going to go well in the first place—"

"But even so, do know I have your back on this, Ozpin." He sat back upright. "As much as I think this will be a disaster, I know that I'm more than willing to go through hell and back to make sure that Ruby, Yang, and their friends won't suffer as much as they have to. It's the least I can do for them."

"As do I," Winter answered as well. "While my opinions on the situation matter little—"

"Please, Specialist Schnee." James nodded his head. "You have permission to speak your mind. After all, this is your life at stake for something so dangerous."

"If you insist. I believe this mission will end in failure." The elder Schnee sister took a deep breath. "Even with the two of us, we're grasping at straws. This artifact, while helpful, is not useful in discerning friend from foe. We are just as likely to run into a member of the White Fang with these powers. Then convincing the VIP to get to safety will be difficult, and I believe there is no way that we can fulfill our objectives of extracting the VIP and stopping the White Fang. One or the other must happen, we most likely can't do both." She glanced up to both me and Ironwood. "But if this plan gives us a slightly better chance at surviving than the others, I'll gladly take this on."

I nodded my head. "Thank you. I know what I'm putting you two through is not ideal at all. If either James or I had the time to formulate a better plan, I would gladly do so. But as of now, we have to stick with this flawed plan and hope for the best. So to hear that you two are still willing to take it up is honorable." I stood up. "Well, that should be everything to clarify what is expected for this mission. Are there any other questions?"

Qrow glanced at James. "Can we guarantee that the robotic Atlesian army will be able to take care of the mess if and when this goes bottoms up? I mean, while having them protect us is great and all, are we sure the integrity of the bots is secured?"

"You have my word," the Atlesian General responded. "We did a sweep for both physical and digital hacks. No physical tampering whatsoever. There's still the Queen Virus from that infiltration of the CCT tower, but our engineers have successfully identified it and are moving to quarantine and remove it from all our systems. It's remained dormant as of right now, but the hope is that our engineers will stop this virus from trying anything when we need the Atlesian army the most."

My former student frowned for a moment, narrowing his eyes before nodding. "Fine by me." He got up and stretched. "Whew, I'm starving. I'm thinking about getting something at the fairgrounds before heading for the city. Ice Queen, you coming? Or is peasant food too greasy for you?"

"I've already had dinner, thank you very much." She stood up as well. "I'll be off to visit my sister's team. You know where to find me once you're done."

"Of course, of course." Qrow walked over to a window and opened it. "Catch you later, Ice Queen." With that, he transformed into a crow and flew out.

"Phht. Showoff. I'll be on my way then." Winter got into the elevator, leaving just me and James left.

He let out a sigh. "And with that, I have to leave too. Goodbye, Ozpin."

"And to you, James." I ended the call and sighed, leaning back in my seat. I've made my move. I brought my stare back up to the ceiling. Now, all we can do now is wait for the enemy to make theirs.

* * *

I let out a yawn, rubbing my tired eyes as the rest of team JNPR walked through the hallways of the stadium. Man, I didn't get a good night's rest. I scratched the back of my hoodie. Even with a light breakfast, it's hard to keep my focus.

And judging from the droopy bags under Pyrrha and Nora's eyes, they must've felt the same. Maybe the stress from all the fighting kept them up at night. After all, Ren didn't look too bad, letting out the occasional yawn. But otherwise, that's about it. Lucky him. He doesn't have to worry about participating in the tournament or worry about any White Fang plot. But Pyrrha surprised me for sure. I would've thought that with her having the most experience fighting in front of an audience, that she would be best at handling the stresses of performing.

"Hey, Pyrrha," I whispered to her. She glanced at me. "Are you feeling okay? You're not looking too good."

"Oh, don't worry about me, Jaune." My partner waved it off with a chuckle. "I didn't get some good rest last night. It's normal, I get restless when a tournament is ongoing. But it won't affect my fighting, at least in the ring. I usually can wake myself up with some good warm-up exercises."

"Okay…" I frowned. "But isn't something like that unhealthy? Stress at last for days can't be good for your health."

"It isn't, to be honest." She nodded her head. "But at the same time, it's not too big of a deal. I had professional athletic trainers look at everything related to measuring my body, and they said that having competition jitters is okay as long as it disappears immediately after the tournament has ended. Well, they also recommended to me some techniques to help with relaxation and keeping my mind off of the battle to come, but I'm out of practice." Her eyelid closed for a moment before she snapped back awake. "It'll be fine, Jaune. I've been through worse bouts of sleep deprivation."

I sighed. "If you insist. In all seriousness, though, don't be afraid to tell us if you're feeling exhausted. I know people expect a lot from the four-time Mistralian champion, but you're still our teammate. If you feel exhausted and you can't continue this, that's perfectly understandable."

She gave me a smile. "Thank you, Jaune. I'm glad that you still care about my well-being. I'll be fine though."

"Right," Nora yawned. "I think that I'll go take a nap on the bleachers, then. We're not even fighting today, and I don't think that anyone will notice little ol' me catching up on sleep."

Ren nodded before humming. "By the way, why in the world are you tired, Nora?"

"A mistake was made." She let out a groan. "You know those protein bars they pass out to all of the contestants after every match? I decided to have one of those as a late night snack." The normally hyperactive girl rubbed her eyes. "Who knew protein bars could have caffeine in them?"

"Wait, what?" Ren's eyes widened. "Did you say caffeine?"

Nora nodded. "Granted, they said it was in little itty-bitty amounts, not even a tenth of what good coffee normally has. But it's enough to keep me awake and all agitated. After a night of tossing and turning, I just want to get better sleep…" Her head started bouncing. One snap of the finger by Ren caused her to jump. "Wha— I'm awake!"

Well then… I guess everybody's feeling the pressure of what's to come, even if we're expecting different things. They're going to need some time where they don't have to worry about anything. I nodded my head. "You know what?" I asked. "Why don't you guys get our seats first, then I'll stay here and buy everyone food while everybody else rests up? After all, you guys deserve some time to properly rest up."

Pyrrha shook her head. "You don't need to do that, Jaune. We already ate breakfast, we don't need more food. We're fine—" She let out a yawn. "Fine. Just give me a couple minutes in the training room and I'll be wide awake again."

"Come on. Think of it as congrats for our previous win." I rubbed the back of my neck. "We never really got a chance to celebrate our win from yesterday, so let me buy something for you guys. I think I remember seeing them sell cotton candy popcorn balls here on the stadium. Just think: popcorn infused with melted cotton candy, spun into a ball of cotton candy."

"That sounds… really unhealthy," Ren noted.

"Of course it's supposed to be unhealthy! It's festival food, after all! The charm of it comes from the fact that no person would have it every day. That's why it's a treat!" I threw my hands up. "Come on, guys. Just let me indulge everyone just this once?"

All three of my teammates glanced at each other, silently communicating before looking back at me. "Alright, Jaune," Pyrrha smiled. "Thank you for that."

"You're welcome," I replied. "You guys should really go find your seats right now. It's going to take a while for me to find that popcorn stand. So, I'll see you guys when the matches start, I hope?"

The rest of my team nodded. "Right."

I sighed as I watched them disappear into the crowd. A half-truth. While I'm sure there is a cotton candy popcorn ball stand around here, I'm mainly trying to get them out of the way so that I can continue the search for the White Fang. I rubbed the bridge on my nose. How is it that I'm okay with lying to the rest of my team? I mean, they don't deserve being part of this, but— I shut my eyes. I've had this conversation with myself so many times already. I already know the answer. Let's just make sure that I really do make a difference.

But first, I should actually figure out where this popcorn stand is. I started walking in a random direction. What's the point of making up an excuse to be out if I don't actually follow through with my excuse? But yeah… I continued walking, picking up the idle conversations around me. I'm sure there's a popcorn stand like that somewhere, but for some reason, I just can't find it. Maybe it's on the other side of the stadium? Oh man, that would be embarrassing for sure if that was the case. Maybe I should look up a map? But I don't know the name of the stand that sells the thing in the first place. It won't be at all useful if—

My feet stuck to the ground as my eyes caught sight of the unusual sweet. Aha! Another Shopkeeper-esque person was spinning the cotton. Watching the process is mesmerizing. All he has to do is swirl a stick around the cotton candy machine, and strands just stick to it. The popcorn, colored in pinks, blues, greens, and so on entangled themselves into the cotton ball, creating a nest full of popcorn bits. I can feel my mouth water. It looks really good.

Whelp, I know where to go now. I looked at the sign. 'The Z.A.B. Candyman'. What an odd name. But their candy looks really good, so who am I to judge? I turned around. Now that I've figured that out, time to go out and start looking for the White Fang. I think Weiss and I agreed that looking within the employee-only sections could reveal something—

"Oof!" Somebody bumped into me from behind, causing me to stumble forwards. A dark-skinned hand caught me from behind and pulled me back upright. "I have to apologize for that. The fault is mine for not paying attention to my surroundings." Wait a minute… that voice sounded familiar… I turned around to see a familiar beret-wearing girl, this time in an all blue uniform.

My eyes widened. "Ciel?"

"I'm glad to hear that you still remember my name." She gave me a nod. "If I remember correctly, your name is Jaune Arc, of team JNPR. Is that correct?" I gave her a nod of my own. "That's good to hear. How have you been ever since our time during the training simulation last Wednesday?"

"Oh, nothing much. Really, just a lot of preparation for the Vytal Festival." I rubbed the back of my neck. "How about you? I remember how your team had to evacuate you to the infirmary. Is everything good with you?"

Ciel nodded. "Both the nurse at Beacon and the doctors from Atlas got a chance to inspect me, and they said that there's nothing that significantly endangers my health. The shock of the tree branch hitting me had some effect on my body, but I've otherwise recovered from the blow. I'll be able to fight today. In fact, I believe my match is the second one in the day." She shook her head. "Unfortunately, that's something irrelevant and not worth paying attention to. Now that I managed to run into you, I actually have something to ask."

My eyes narrowed. Wasn't her bumping into me an accident? I nodded my head anyway. "Alright then. What is it about?"

She glanced around, tensing up. "Not here. It's too dangerous." The girl gestured towards a door leading to the employees-only section of the stadium. "This is something that needs to be discussed within a location that is free from prying ears."

"Uh, so a private place? Okay then." My mind started churning as I walked with her. What in the world is going on? What does Ciel know that is so important to discuss behind closed doors? Whatever it is, there's no way this could be good. I thought she was supposed to be just some team leader from Atlas. So what does she have to discuss with me, a team leader from Vale who she only talked to once throughout this entire year?

"So," I started as we entered a narrow hallway. "What did you need to ask me about?"

"Do you promise not to tell anyone?"

I nodded my head. "I promise."

She adjusted her beret. "Good." With the snap of her fingers, a snake-like figure appeared out of nowhere, coiling around her. It's like one of those boa constrictors but with dazzling green and yellow, and blue striped feathers instead of scales. Its eyes popped open, boring its gaze into me. I stepped back in surprise. What the—

" **「LAST BREATH!」** " The Stand flickered its tongue before pouncing at me.

**⇐TO BE CONTINUED= 5/25/2018**

* * *

**Arslan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 2**

Participating in a tournament has always one of the highest honors any Mistralian warrior can have. Maybe it's due to my Kingdom's warrior ancestry. Anima used to be a continent of constant warfare, with tribes of several cultures collectively known as the Euranimatic tribes often clashing with each other. When the many tribes united together under one banner, the resulting peace formalized the Kingdom of Mistral. Most would think that after this successful formation of peace, the newly minted Mistralians have finally given up their old tribal ways.

However, our fighting spirit never truly died with the birth of our civilization, and the annual tournaments were born of that intense desire to clash. There is a thrill in the fight, in the struggle. There's honor to be had, the will to strive for more. To participate in a tournament is an honor in itself. To fight in the Vytal Festival… that is a dream come true for any able-bodied Mistralian. Maybe that's why team ABRN felt so much pride coming here to fight. Maybe it's why I've made the choice to help Ruby and the rest of the team with protecting the Amity, regardless of my search for the Arrow being my primary goal.

I looked up from my scroll to see the battle occurring below us. My eyes flickered to the stadium stands. If these instructions are right, then Ruby should be here somewhere. I know that she must be in the dedicated section of the stadium where all of the students sit. You'd think it would be easy to spot a Huntress, especially when our job is to stand out in a crowd. But it's surprisingly hard to find one girl in the colorful crowd of students. I narrowed my eyes. Where in the world is she?

"Arslan!" I looked up to see the girl in question waving her hand in my direction. "Over here!" She had a goofy smile on her face. For anyone not paying attention to her, they would think that she's been having fun at the Vytal Festival. I know better than that. She knows when to focus on a task at hand. My own fight with her is firm proof of that. She must be taking advantage of her Stand to keep watch on the entire stadium. I'm not really sure how exactly, but I trust that she figured something out.

"Ruby." I nodded my head as I walked towards her. "It's nice to see you."

"Ooh, who's this?" Hmm? I glanced at the person who said that. A girl with short, orange hair stared at me as she let out a yawn. Two other individuals sat next to her: a girl with red hair tied in a ponytail who looked all too familiar and a boy with a magenta streak of hair. The short-haired girl gave me a drowsy smile. "Nice to meet'cha." She started nodding off.

The boy right next to her coughed into his hand, catching my attention in the process. "I remember you from the match against team RWBY. You managed to take out all of them by yourself. But the fact that you're here is surprising to say the least. So you're a friend of Ruby's?" the boy with the magenta streak of hair asked. I nodded in response. A small smile crawled up his face. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Forgive my partner, she's just really tired. Honestly, this is the calmest she'll ever be." He stuck out his hand. "My name is Lie Ren, but you can just call me Ren. My partner is Nora, and the other girl to my right is—"

"Pyrrha Nikos." I nodded my head. "I'm familiar with that name, and all I can say is that it's an honor being in her presence. After all, this is the Invincible Girl. The four-time consecutive winner of the Mistralian Tournament. Your Kingdom is proud of your accomplishments." The champion in question started to shift in her seat as she heard my words, muttering something under her breath as her head dipped. I took a sharp breath. "But as much as I wish to have a one-on-one fight with the previous champion, that's not why I'm here." I turned back to Ruby. "Can we have this discussion somewhere more… private?"

She nodded. "Yup, we can go somewhere else." Ruby stood up before turning towards the trio sitting next to her. "Can you guys save my spot for me? Don't worry, I shouldn't be gone long. Just need to have a quick talk with Arslan."

Lie— or was it Ren? The boy nodded in response. "We've got it. Go ahead, then."

"Thanks Ren." The girl gestured to me. "Come on, Arslan. I kinda need to use the restroom anyways."

We walked in silence for a while, stepping out of the stadium and entering a nearby bathroom. Only after we went in and checked the area for anybody else did Ruby start to speak. "So, you wanted to talk about the Arrow?" I nodded. She let out a hum. "What about it, specifically?"

I sighed. "I know that I promised that we would work together in order to retrieve the Arrow. But after hearing about the potential attack on the Amity in the near future, I was…" I ran my fingers through my hair. "I was wondering if there's anything I can do to take a bit of weight off of you in any way. It could be helping your fellow teammates search for the Arrow, or I can help you root out the White Fang, or something like that. But I can't stand the idea of doing just wandering around and doing my own search when so many people are at risk. So I must ask, what can I do to make your job easier?"

"Hmm…" Ruby tilted her head to the side. "I'm not really sure… It would be nice to have you searching for the White Fang with us…" The girl nodded her head. "Yeah, that's probably where we need the most help right now. We have no idea how many Stand users we could face off against. So having more Stand users wouldn't hurt."

"Okay," I said, nodding my head as I leaned against the sink. "Thank you. It takes a bit off of my mind." I stared at myself in the mirror. "What about the Arrow? How's progress on that end?"

"We understand the general limits of the Cupid. Yang and Blake are on it, and they'll probably get it before the Festival's end. Oh!" Ruby snapped her fingers. "I just remembered! Remember our promise to give your family the Arrow back?" I nodded my head. She continued, "So my team managed to find time to talk to the Headmaster about it, and he wants to talk to you about that. I know I just asked for your help to root out the White Fang, but if you can squeeze in time to figure out what we'll do with the Arrow after we get it—"

"That's fine as well. Anything you don't want to worry about, I'll gladly take." I turned around. "Thank you, Ruby."

"You're welcome." The girl let out a slight hiss. "I'm going to go now. Like, go, go. So… see 'ya later, Arslan."

"Goodbye, then. Good luck on your search." The moment I left the restroom, I pulled out my scroll. Another talk with the Headmaster, huh? It was just general information beforehand, but with the situation brewing right now, it makes sense to make sure everything goes to plan. I started scrolling through my contact list. And I know just the right person. I just hope she picks up.

After a few rings, the screen darkened, revealing a tiny, old woman sitting in a kitchen chair stuffed with pillows. I cleared my throat. "Hello? Grauntie Carna?" I pressed my back against the side of the wall. "Hi, Grauntie. It's Arslan, how are you?"

The old woman gave me a warm smile. "Ah, my favorite grandniece. It's great to see your face again." She stroked the side of the camera. "How long has it been since I've seen you… two years now? You've grown into a fine woman." My grauntie let out a long groan as she stretched. "It's nice that you can keep an old woman company, especially considering how busy you must be with being a Huntress. How are you doing?" She held her hand out. "Don't answer that." The woman chuckled. "I saw your performance in the CCT. Beautiful match, if I have to say so myself. I can see that you've put all of your skills to the test here." Her eyes narrowed. "Including your Stand."

With that, she changed demeanor completely. It's like a different woman took the place of my gentle great-aunt. She grabbed a nearby cane and started tapping it against the table. "I saw other Stand users fighting in that same match. Without a doubt, I believe that you know about their status as well. Let me be frank here, I don't think you called because you genuinely wanted to see your grauntie again, or at least it wasn't your primary motive. Which means only one thing. Somebody must've appeared with the Arrow again, right?"

I nodded my head. "That's right. I'm sorry I didn't call about it sooner, I found about it just as recently. There's a creature of Grimm who's using the Arrow to create havoc in the city. Grauntie Carna, I think there's going to be an attack on the Amity by Stand users hit by the Arrow."

She let out a long, tired breath. "Drat… this is on such a short notice as well. I don't think we could spare any of the other Altan family members, they're all out of town." Grauntie Carna glanced to the side for a moment before looking back at me. "Arslan, let me say this in a straightforward manner: your powers alone isn't enough to fend off a group of Stand users big enough to threaten the Colosseum. We had entire groups fend off against Stand appearances, and we still had family die in the fighting. I won't lose another one. You need to—"

"Grauntie, there are some good news, though." She raised her eyebrow in response. I continued, "There's a group of Stand users who currently know where to locate the Arrow, and they're actively trying to hunt it down. I've vetted them myself, and I can say with honesty that I can trust them to do whatever it takes to end the cycle."

"Oh? Really?" The old woman narrowed her eyes. "And what gives you that much confidence to trust newly minted Stand users to perform the task of the Altan family?"

"Let's just say I've met with a simple soul," I responded. "One who only wants to right the wrongs of the past. I've seen her actions, and I trust her."

"And the others?"

"They believe in her cause as well. Even if they choose to betray her, she'll do whatever it takes to set everything right. I believe that she'll be the one who will help us end the Altan family curse once and for all." Grauntie Carna didn't respond, letting out a hum as she placed her hand against her chin.

She let out a sigh. "It's not like I can convince you otherwise from across the world. For now, I'll accept your word. All I can say is that while a simple soul can help us, a simple soul turned bitter can become a terrible enemy. They can be a double-edged sword, and care must be taken to make sure that they aren't warped."

I nodded my head. "I assure you, she isn't someone who won't allow herself to become corrupted. She is a true paragon at heart. But we should switch subjects. There's one other thing I wanted to call you for. I want your blessing."

"My blessing?"

"To become a messenger to the Altan family and our role as guardians of the Arrow." I bowed my head. "The Kingdoms know about its existence, at least to a certain degree. And I have no doubts that they'll debate over who will get it. It's in our best interest to gain a seat at the negotiation table. Without any offense to you, Grauntie, but at your age, you don't have the energy or time to travel to Vale, where the Arrow is likely going to be retrieved. But I'm already in Vale. So, it wouldn't be an issue for me to physically be there during the meetings while I stream you to negotiate for our family. That is what I ask for."

"Hmm… I did say I don't have any other Altan family member who can fulfill the task. You will be a fine enough messenger." She bowed her head in return. "I accept your proposal, and I grant my blessing for you to become the messenger for the Altans." She glanced straight into my eyes. "Now listen closely, Arslan. This is the deal we'll present to the Kingdoms…"

**=TBC=**


	37. Last Breath - Part 1

* * *

One thought dominated my mind as the feathered snake snapped towards me: oh gods! I threw myself to the side, summoning  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」**  right as I slammed against the floor.

This can't be happening… I can't believe it. Ciel is a Stand user, too? But how is this possible? Since when? There's no way she could've been hit by the Arrow recently, there haven't been any sightings ever since the simulation… we would've known if her Stand emerged back then. No, the only time she could've been hit was during the simulation, and I know I made sure she wasn't cut—

Wait a minute. I furrowed my eyebrows.  _Did_  I ever check her body for any cuts? No… Cinder did that for me. Maybe she missed a cut somehow? Stand cuts do heal themselves up. Did we inspect her too late to find the wound? Hmm… Or maybe Ciel was a Stand user the entire time…

I shot up to my feet. I don't have time to think about that, especially when Ciel's attacking me. I have to get out of here and get to the others. My eyes flickered to the metal door behind her. But she's standing between me and the exit. What do I do? Fight her, when I don't know what she can do to me? No, that's stupid. I have to run. Maybe I should turn and run into the employee's area. I think I can lose her there. I started backing up. It's not ideal, but I can probably lose her in this maze-like area—

Something cold and feather-y curled around my ankles. What the— Before I could even blink,  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** slithered and coiled around my body with a flash, taking care to wrap around my neck before squeezing. Ack! My fingers clawed at the body of the snake, trying in vain to dig underneath its body. Oh gods, I can feel its breath down my neck! My knees buckled, the edges of my vision starting to blur. Oh gods— Can't breathe— Need… air—

"Jaune Arc, if you value your life, you will listen to everything I have to say," Ciel said, taking a glance at the time on her wrist. "What you have around your neck is what you and your affiliates refer to as a 'Stand.' This specimen, which I've named  **「** **LAST BREATH,** **」** won't attempt to exterminate you currently. This show of force is more for emphasis than anything else. I do not intend on taking your life. However, do know that at any moment, I can terminate you if you attempt to assault me. Are the terms started agreeable to you?" Ciel leaned into my face. "If you understand, please nod. Cooperation is conducive to oxygen."

My head bobbed up and down furiously. Yes! The feathers pulsed across the Stand's body. Come on, please let me live— The noose slackened just a bit, sending a rush of air into my lungs. I let out a gasp, letting my body take in everything. Hah… Oh gods, I thought I was going to die there! Beads of sweat slipped down my face as I tried to get my breathing back under control. I'm alive… I'm okay…

"Now that you know the exact situation you will face should you disobey me, allow me to reveal the purpose of your capture." The girl nudged me against a wall. "Through your reaction to  **「** **LAST BREATH,** **」** I have determined that you are a Stand user like me, and acted to detain you for further interrogation in the name of the Atlesian army." I swallowed. Uh oh. That's not good. Do they have more users like Ciel? If that's the case and they all happen to be on the Amity right now… this might change a lot of things.

Ciel continued to stare me down, furrowing her eyebrows before sighing. "However, I have come to the conclusion that you must be one of the individuals searching for the Arrow. The General told me to expect a few groups who share the same goal as I do. If my intel is correct, there should be one group who is concerned with the safety of the Kingdoms." She narrowed her eyes. "And one group who only wants to destroy the Kingdoms. I wonder, which one are you?"

"V— Vale! I'm working with the Headmaster!" I raised my arms in surrender. Play along, Jaune. Do what she asks until you can figure your way out. I gave my best expression of fear, which wasn't really too hard considering how I feel right now. "All I want is to make sure that the Arrow doesn't get into the hands of the bad guys! Same as you!"

Ciel's eyebrow raised up. "Is that so?" She let out a hum, glancing over me. "Your alibi holds up well. You operate in the public eye, something that the enemy would avoid doing if they want their plan to succeed. You also happened to come to my defense when the Cupid creature attacked me." She opened her scroll and glanced through it. "From the looks of it, you are a registered student of Beacon, with several photos as evidence that it isn't a front to hide illegal activity. It looks like your story checks out."

"Whew," I sighed. "Okay, that's good. I'm glad that we managed to clear this misunderstanding before it got any worse. Now, if you can just let me go so I can continue my search—"

The noose tightened ever so slightly, cutting off my sentence. Ciel pursed her lips. "And who claimed that I was going to release you from custody?" I swallowed. What? What's she talking about? She continued: "According to the information on you, you reportedly have roughly a month's experience in tracking down the Cupid, one of the longest out of your entire group. That experience will be beneficial towards achieving Atlas' goals."

She straightened her back. "My search for the Arrow has taken exactly two days, twenty-two hours, and forty-nine minutes. From that alone, the difference between the two of us is clear. It is to my advantage to partner up with an experienced searcher to make this task easier."

"Well, I can help you with that later, but I can't really do it right now." I let out a nervous chuckle. "I have something else that's more important to take care of—"

"Oh really? Something that is more important than preventing the destruction of Remnan civilization?" Ciel raised an eyebrow. "What could be more important than that, if I may ask?" She cocked her head, almost like an owl. "That was a rhetorical question. I have read that stating such a question helps to highlight the main argument. The correct answer to this question is nothing. Obtaining the Arrow is clearly the number one priority. No other goal has that same weight. And you will help me in this task, whether you agree with me or not."

My mind went into a panic the moment she said those words. This makes absolutely no sense… why would she be on the colosseum if she was looking for the Arrow? I'm sure that the Headmasters of Beacon and Atlas Academy would've shared information about this a long time ago. Why would she think that the Cupid's going to be here when we've deduced that it had to be within Beacon? And besides, shouldn't they definitely know about the White Fang attack happening soon? I narrowed my eyes. Either she didn't learn about that information before she came here, or she's acting on her own. But neither of those make any sense, though…

"Regardless, you will accompany me into these maintenance halls and brief me on what progress has been made on the search for the Cupid. If your answers are satisfactory, I will release you without any other consequences. You may ask clarifying questions, and I'll answer them. However, break any of your agreements with me—" Another wheeze escaped my mouth as  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** squeezed my neck again. Her gaze never broke away. "As valuable as you are, Jaune Arc, you are an acceptable casualty to the Kingdom of Atlas. I can easily terminate you and continue on my own. And I believe that you prefer to continue living, am I correct?"

"Fine," I choked out. "I'll help. Please stop this."

With a nod from the Atlesian girl, the snake Stand pulsed again before relaxing its grip on me. Ciel straightened her back. "Then get up and follow me. I want you to start with all of the details on the Cupid's capabilities." She started towards the deeper part of the employee area. I stared at the back of her head, tightening my hands into fists.

Oh gods, this can't be happening… I stood up and started after her. This is a disaster. I'm being backed into a corner by Ciel, and I don't know what she's thinking. I can't attack her, otherwise I risk choking to death. I can't free myself either without her noticing. She'll probably kill me on the spot. I glanced at the clean, spotless employee hallway. There doesn't seem to be any kind of weapon that I could use without catching her attention. Oh gods, this isn't good at all. I'm trapped… I can't afford to be stuck here with Ciel, but what choice do I have? I can't do anything with her keeping me on a literal leash. I sniffled as a feather tickled my nose. All I can do is continue to play along until I find a way to get out of this snake's grasp.

I shook my head. "What much can I say? This thing can fly, like you saw back in the Emerald Forest. It has supernatural reflexes, which you also saw back in the forest. Fast enough that it can dodge bullets. Uh…" My mind went blank. What else… Is that really it? 'It can fly and it can dodge really fast things?' Wow. Now that I think about it, we don't know a lot about the Cupid. It really doesn't give us much chance to understand it. Still, not knowing a lot about what we're trying to hunt doesn't look too good for us. "Uh… We assume it has the same properties of a regular Grimm. That's… really it."

"That's it? This statement isn't a form of jest or whatnot?" Ciel turned her head to give me a questioning look. "Is that the true extent of your knowledge on the enemy you spent a month searching for?"

"It's hard to find, okay?" I shot back, frowning in the process. "There's only so much we can do considering it stays out of the way most of the time. We only get a brief look at it when it does come out to cause chaos. We're lucky that we can even get that much from how little we see of it."

"Hmm… Well then, let's change the question then. How much do you know of its limitations?"

My breath hitched. Now that's… that's a question I have to answer carefully. I still have no idea of Ciel's motivations. Should I reveal the fact that we think that the Cupid has a limited area where it can travel? On one hand, it gets Ciel away from me and towards Beacon, leaving me open to continue to search for the White Fang. But at the same time, that puts Blake and Yang in danger. I'm sure Blake will have an easier time escaping from  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** than I do, but what about Yang? She has no Stand protecting her, and her getting captured would be a lot of trouble if Ciel is some kind of traitor.

But now that leaves the question of what I'm supposed to do? Should I lie to her and hope that she'll buy it? If she's working for Atlas, will she catch my lie, leading to my death? What can I do—

The noose ever so slightly tightened. "I don't appreciate time being wasted, Jaune Arc," Ciel called out as she looked at her watch. "The match between CFVY and VLCN should be starting now," she mumbled under her breath. "One match before my team comes up." One match for her to squeeze as much info out of me as she can. My eyes widened. That's it! That's my escape route! She's not going to waste too much time on me if she's trying to keep up appearances! All I have to do is stall long enough and let the pressure of the time constraint eat at her until it forces her to release me! Come on, Jaune. Just lie on the spot! You've done plenty of lying before. What's one more to get out?

I cleared my throat, catching her attention. "Actually, I do remember one."

Her eyes narrowed. "Oh really? What is it?"

"The Cupid does have a weakness. It can't… multitask well! Yeah!" I nodded my head. "The Cupid isn't really good at handling multiple opponents at once, so several attacks all around it is bound to split its attention. One lucky shot is bound to hit and hurt the Cupid."

"Hmm… that's a real interesting limitation." Ciel nodded her head, closing her eyes in contemplation.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** squeezed my neck, cutting off my airways. "Not a wrong answer. I'm sure that no person or Grimm would be able to pay attention to so many things at once. A full-frontal assault is likely the best option. However, you're lying. That's not the only limitation that you know to be true."

My hands scraped themselves over the fluffy snake scales. "But… how?"

"As a soldier of the Atlesian Army, I was trained to understand the mechanics of Remnan deception and how to detect deceit from other people." She turned to face me. "You're unnaturally sweaty, and not just the 'someone who's worried about their lives' kind of sweat as well." The snake licked my cheek, sending shivers down my spine. Oh gods…

"That sweat reeks of determination," she continued, "Of someone who thinks they have a plan to escape, and is trying to squirm their way out. Then there's the change in cadence." She pointed a finger at me. "You had a small pause right before you told me the limitation. That hesitance indicates that you knew the truth, but decided to lie. So, you have an option now. Tell me the real answer or face the consequences." Darkness started creeping in from my peripheral vision. It's no use… I have to say it.

"The Cupid is bound to somebody!" I exclaimed.

"Oh?" The noose relaxed almost immediately. Agh… It didn't work… why? The girl in blue tilted her head with interest. "Elaborate on this."

"Okay…" I coughed out. "So, we noticed a pattern when we plotted out where all of the Cupid attacks happened. Turns out, they're all within the Beacon and Emerald Forest area, which occasionally bleeds into the port close to the waterfall of the school." I took a deep breath. "We think that within that area, there's somebody controlling the Cupid. And guess where the Amity Colosseum is right now?"

She hummed. "Right above the Emerald Forest… So the General was right in believing that there might be an attacker within the Amity Colosseum. Is that why you happen to be here right now?"

I nodded my head. "Of course. My group split up to cover as much ground as possible, but yeah. It's one of the reasons why I'm here." Wait a minute, that's not right! That's a lie! I braced for an attack… but it never came. Instead, Ciel nodded her head.

"Hmm… The information doesn't do a lot to narrow the search area, but it does confirm my current theories. The General will be pleased with a more concrete confirmation." She placed a hand under her chin, nodding as she walked forwards. I followed behind, compelled to walk when her Stand gave my neck a squeeze.

My forehead wrinkled with thought. A lie slipped through. Technically, it's only agreeing with the wrong conclusion, but still. I've found a flaw in Ciel's Stand. I don't know exactly what it is yet, but this might be my way out. Whether she realizes it or not, she just gave me a centimeter to work with. I need to take that tiny bit of leeway and push it as far as possible if I want to get out of here.

Okay. Think, Jaune. What in the world can this thing do in the first place? From what I know so far, not much. The Stand is definitely similar to a boa constrictor, both in how it looks and how it constricts around my neck. But it's not wrapping itself all the way. It's not trying to cut off my blood circulation to knock me out or kill me. No, it's trying to just cut off my airflow. Maybe it's supposed to interrogate instead of kill? That's not really special in itself. I'm pretty sure any Stand could do that. So, what could possibly be this thing's ability?

Try thinking a bit further back… No items that could activate it, no particular changes in environment, no illusions, I think. So what  _could've_  activated it? Hmm… Maybe it was something I said. Back when we first entered the corridors, what did I say? I asked her what she wanted to ask me about. Then she made me promise something. I said yes, and that's when the Stand… attacked me…

My eyes widened. Wait a minute… now that I think about it, while I was being choked, she kept asking me questions on what I'm supposed to do. Don't tell anyone, listen to her, answer her questions, help her out… all of those are demands and requests. And every time I went against that,  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** started to squeeze my neck and choking me to keep me in line, aside from the first time. Could that be her power? Is it something along the lines of binding someone to a promise or agreement?

It's such a simple Stand ability. It's so grounded in reality compared to the others we've faced. In fact, it could be passed off as brilliant interrogation skills rather than any supernatural ability. Most people wouldn't suspect Stand powers. Even Stand users could easily be thrown for a loop with how stupidly simple it is. They just might think her ability is just skill.

My gods… I bit the bottom of my lip. I understand now. It's more powerful than anyone might think it is, and Ciel must have realized her power's worth as well. Being able to target someone, bind them to their word, and guarantee their loyalty and honesty, and to hide it? That's a ridiculously strong power. If she had more experience in using it, I don't think anyone could escape from its grasp.

Except she did slip up. I told a half-truth earlier. So it doesn't guard against dishonesty. I furrowed my eyebrows. Why is that? I know for a fact that I lied to her earlier, and her Stand responded by tightening around me. If her Stand was capable of detecting lies, wouldn't she choke me because of my mistake? But she didn't.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** didn't do anything. So there has to be something about this that allows me to slip through unharmed. What was different between the two lies, then? Why did I get attacked the first time, but not the second?

I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute… didn't she say that 'if my answers were satisfactory, then she'll let me go?' The first answer wasn't to her liking, so she attacked. But the other one… she must've thought it was good enough. My eyes widened. The Stand isn't a lie detector. She's determining that for herself. That part of it is actual skill. She's doing the lie detecting, but her Stand… only promises matter to it. Like a living contract of sorts.

My spirits started to surge. It's a stretch, and I'm not even sure if it's the case… but this might be the solution! I might be bound to anything she says… But if  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** is a living contract like I think it is… Does that mean she must follow her own promises as well?

Ciel's voice broke through my thoughts. I looked back up at the girl, who let out a long hum. "But now I need to move on to my next question." She shot a glance at me. "What—"

"Hold on for a moment." I held my hand up, cutting her off. "There's a question I want to ask."

Her eyes narrowed. "A question? I suppose I  _did_  give you permission to ask any clarifying questions…" She nodded. "Alright. What is your question?"

"Just one thing: will you answer every question I ask truthfully?"

"As truthfully as I can," she replied. The snake pulsed around my neck. That's it… that must be the 'tell' for a binding promise. "I see little point in giving you false information. It impedes your ability to give me the information that I need."

"Okay then." I felt a bead of sweat slip down my face. Now or never. I have one shot at calling her out. If this fails, she'll figure out what I'm doing, and that'll be the end of me. Here goes nothing. I took a deep breath and gave her my best glare. "With that in mind, tell me: what is your Stand ability?"

Ciel narrowed her eyes, pressing her lips into a fine line. Her brow wrinkled. "That's classified. You're not privy to that information—"

"Really?" I smiled. "Because I can tell you exactly what your Stand ability is."

That got her attention. Her eyes widened just a bit, before she returned to a neutral facial expression. "That is a bold claim to make, especially since you're currently under my control. And what makes you say that?" she asked.

"It wasn't too hard to figure out once I had some time to think about it." I jabbed a finger in her direction. "Your Stand ability is, in a sense, a judge.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** is supposed to make sure that nobody backs away from a deal. Not the targeted person it is bound to, and not the user. Everybody must fulfill their part of the agreement, otherwise  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** will strike. Isn't that right?"

"You must be delusional, thinking that my Stand powers work like that—" Her words were cut short when the snake's tail whipped towards Ciel, wrapping around her neck and choking her as well. Oh my gods! I couldn't help but grin. I was right! She's bound to her Stand's words as well! This changes everything! I might just have a chance!

The girl let out a gasp, her eyes widening in realization. "You're right!" she hissed.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** let go of her in an instant. She wiped the corner of her mouth, breath shaky from her own Stand's attack. "What you say is evidently true. This Stand is honor bound. I now know both parties must keep their side of the agreement, otherwise the Stand will attack." She narrowed her eyes. "So that's why you asked me that question… you were binding me to  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** as well. I have to applaud you for figuring out my ability faster than I can. But you made one mistake."

The snake's body tightened around me again, sending me tumbling down to the ground yet again. "I still have active control over  **「** **LAST BREATH.** **」** Which means I still have power over your life, just like I told you earlier." I struggled for air, pulling against the Stand to try and get a bit more air into my system. She continued: "And now that you know what my ability can do exactly, you've become a liability. You must be eliminated at all costs."

"And what makes you think that you can just get rid of me?" I let out a strained chuckle. "You're in no position to kill me off. Let me guess: you chose me because I happened to be with you during the simulation?"

"A bit presumptuous for a person who is not in a position of power." Ciel looked down at me. "You have no evidence backing this claim up—"

"You and your team spend the majority of your time in Vale here on the Atlesian airship, so you couldn't have made any friends on campus. In fact, I bet that one of your longest interactions with any students outside of Atlas was during the simulation. That explains you knowing about me." I tested the grip on the snake. Not budging, but not constricting, either. "Then, knowing you have a student profile on me, I expected it to say that I had 'no Semblance.' That contradicts what I said back in the forest, that I did have one. And when you realized the power of the Arrow, you must've realized that I had some kind of understanding of what the Cupid is capable of. So the conclusion is obvious. I'm someone to be watched."

"But you don't know anyone else who could be a Stand user, do you?" The silence that filled the air said it all. I felt my spirits surge. "You saying that you'll kill me is an empty threat, there to keep me in line if I try to run. In reality, you can't afford to kill me, because I'm your only lead on anything related to the Cupid. Lose me, and you're back to square one. And considering that the Vytal Festival is happening right now, you can't afford to lose that kind of time." I raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

For the first time, I saw a hint of her body tensing up. She's starting to get frustrated. I have to be hitting the mark. Why else would she stay so silent? Ciel doesn't want to say something and risk having her Stand attack her for conditions she doesn't remember making a couple of minutes ago. I can take advantage of this. "This doesn't have to be a completely one-sided deal. It can be a sort of partnership. You be more clear and honest with what's going on with your side of the mission, and I'll keep helping you out with this search. After all, I do need to know as much as possible to be a help to you. You said that yourself, right?"

Her face stiffened. "That's right. I did say that. And I have no choice but to accept."  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」**  pulsed again before releasing me. Ciel continued, "After all, your observations are on point. You are the only Stand user I know of. I do know you know other users as well, but no names or appearances. So you will have to do for now."

She shot a glare at me. "Your realization still means nothing, however. You're still trapped by my Stand, so you won't have the opportunity to warn anyone without  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** retaliating. So with that in mind, let's continue with our search of this area."

We continued further into the tunnels. "So…" I started. "How did you get your Stand powers?"

"I have no confirmable evidence on how exactly I received  **「** **LAST BREATH.** **」** All I know on the matter is that when I woke up after the simulation, I was able to see my Stand afterward." She glanced back at me for a moment. "While our doctors argue on how this occurred, I do suspect that the Cupid was involved in my transformation." Hmm… So I guess my plan didn't work out after all. She still got hit by the Arrow in the end, and the wound healed before anyone could catch it.

"Yeah, that's most likely…" I tapped my fingers against my thigh. Come on, what else can I try to get out of her? "Well, just how much does the Atlesian army know about the Cupid?"

"That information is classified," she answered without a blink. A silence enveloped the both of us. I let out a small gasp. Uh… what? She let out a long exhale. "Jaune Arc, while I admit that your actions to secure such a good position of power in negotiations is admirable, and even if we are 'partners' in a sense, let me remind you that I still represent the kingdom of Atlas. And as such, I can choose not to disclose information if I feel like it can put my country in danger in any way." Oh boy. There goes the advantage I had earlier.

Ciel blinked. "Now that I think about it, now that we are considered partners by  **「** **LAST BREATH,** **」** I feel like a different type of system is in order." Wait, what?

I swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"We, as partners, should be trading information equally. So, this is how the questions will work from now on: for every question I ask, you are entitled to one question of your own. However, this is only  _after_  I ask a question. I won't answer a question unless I've already asked one." I bit my lip. Oh, so that's what she's planning… She's trying to make sure she's getting information out of me as well… It's not a bad idea, to be sure… But now everything I say is important. I somehow have to get as much information out of her as possible, while giving as little information myself. I mean… I can still try to stall until Ciel's match comes up…

"And in order to make our answers quick and honest, I think it would be best if we had a time limit. If we don't answer within ten seconds after the person asks the question,  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** goes into effect." I paled up. Oh gods, ten seconds? That's not a lot of time… But at the same time, I might be able to use this to my advantage… The girl adjusted her beret. "Would that be fine?"

"Sure." After shivering with the snake pulse, I looked up at her. "My turn. How many people are with you in searching for the Arrow?"

"That's classified." My eyes widened in realization before I sighed. Gods, this isn't going to go anywhere at this rate. We aren't even close to even footing. Ciel's just going to hide behind the excuse of everything I'm asking being classified, and get as much information out of me until I have nothing left. I gritted my teeth. That's dangerous. I can't let her keep doing that for long.

"Another question for you, then." The girl in blue looked at her watch. "What is your Stand ability?"

Oh, that's not too bad. It's not going to affect anybody else. And she might let down her guard if she thinks she knows she can counter whatever I do. "I can change the density of anything I touch. That's why I take bits of grass or other stuff like that. I use them as a long-range option."

Ciel nodded her head. "I see… Creative usage of your powers to cover your lack of traditional long-range options in combat."

"Yeah." I swallowed. What if…? It's a risky plan, but I can't let her keep her mouth shut. I glanced towards her. "Something like that. My turn. You said before that you thought that I was here in order to search for the Arrow. What if I told you that I wasn't here for that?"

"I wouldn't believe you," she responded, narrowing her eyes. "Again, there seems to be no more important task at the moment than retrieving the Arrow and making sure that no one else gets access to it. Especially with the Vytal Festival going on.

"Okay." I crossed my arms.

Ciel stopped. "Aren't you going to continue on and reveal what you were here for?"

"No," I stated. "There's no good reason to. And now I can keep my mouth shut, because I'm the one who can ask a question. You just used yours." I smirked as her eyes narrowed at the realization. "And if I don't ask a question, you won't ever get an answer."

She let out a hmph. "Well, I'm afraid that's not how the deal works, Jaune Arc. The rule is that I ask one question, and you can ask one question in return. It says nothing about me continuing to ask questions. So, now let me ask properly: what are you here for?"

**「** **LAST BREATH** **」** squeezed my neck, sending a 'hrk' out of my mouth. Okay, focus Jaune… I kept my gaze on Ciel. "I'm surprised your leaders didn't warn you of this. You really must've stayed out of touch with Atlas if they didn't reveal what was going to happen."

"Not a satisfactory answer." The snake coiled around me even tighter. Oh gods… I can feel my eyeballs bulging… "Again, what are you here for?"

My voice had a rasp as I tried to speak. "The White Fang has Stand users in the Amity Colosseum right now… they're going to try to do something during the Festival. I'm trying to stop that from happening."

The grip around me loosened in an instant, sending a rush of air into my body. Oh my gods, doing this over and over is exhausting… I looked up at the Atlesian girl, who had a look of surprise on her face. "No… you must be making this up. There's no way that the White Fang is here right now. Atlesian security's taken several measures to avoid such a situation."

"And Stand users can defy our common understanding of the world as we know it."

With those words we burst through a set of doors, revealing the mechanisms below the arena. I glanced around as we walked through the giant chasm. Huh… So this is where all of the stages are… All of the terrains rested in designated areas. Desert, savanna, ocean, forest: all of those stages rested at the ground level. Giant metal beams similar to guides jutted out from the sides. That must be how they guide the stages into position to form the arena. Four giant, six-foot gaps were in the ground, the terrains being used for the current fight. Although the arena itself is high above us, I can make out faint sounds of gunshot.

My brows sank soon afterward. Now's not the time to look and admire the sight. I have to make sure that Ciel is distracted herself. My eyes locked with hers. "I know for a fact that this is a plan that has been in motion for months now. They snuck a couple of users into the building. That much I know for sure."

"My gods. This— this can't be right. I've gotten intel about the White Fang planning an attack in the city of Vale, but nobody ever suspected the Amity Colosseum would be targeted. It's such a difficult structure to get to, with so many security measures and guards in case those measures fail. If through Stand users the structure is compromised by terrorists— oh gods. This is a disaster waiting to happen."

"You're not going to keep quiet about any matter, aren't you?" I asked.

"Of course not. This is a serious issue to deal with, something even more important than retrieving the Arrow from the Cupid." The snake pulsed around my neck. She reached into her pocket before stopping at the sight of me. Ciel brought her hand up to her ear without anything. "I need to report back right now."

This is it. The moment of truth. I took a deep breath in. "So then, tell me: what is Atlas going to do with the Arrow once they get it?"

Ciel frowned, turning towards me. "That's classified. And that's strange… How did you manage to ask two questions in a row without my Stand reacting—!" Her eyes widened a second later as  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** snatched her throat. "What the—"

"You weren't expecting that one bit. I would've put that into a question, but that's besides the point. I'm sure I figured out how your Stand works." A smile grew on my face. "There's no way you're going to hide behind the excuse that 'everything is classified,' now. The thing is, you answered one of my requests, one where you 'won't keep your mouth shut.' There will be no more secrets from you for now on." At that moment,  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** started squeezing her neck, forcing the air out of her lungs. "You don't have a lot of time left, Ciel. I don't want to do this to you. If you can answer the question, we can go on—"

"I won't reveal anything, if that's what you're asking, Jaune Arc." She started clawing at her neck. "I won't give in to your demands. If it comes to it, I would proudly let myself be suffocated to death—"

She let out a weird sound before collapsing to the ground. I let out a gasp. "Ciel, don't do this! I'm sure that letting yourself be killed by your own Stand isn't worth it. For both you and your Kingdom."

At this point I can visibly tell that Ciel's skin was turning blue. "I'm not… going to give in…"

"Ciel, stop this right now!" I started towards the girl. "You're going to die! Do you really think that your life is worth the secret you're trying to keep?" She nodded. I continued, "You need to understand the gravity of the situation. Stands are dangerous. You should realize this yourself. All I want— All my team wants is to make sure that we never have a situation like this again." I looked at her straight in the eye. "We don't want a single person to have to be a Stand user."

"But—" She wheezed. "But you don't understand yourself. You're trying to banish a power that nobody understands. What Atlas wants… is to understand that power." Ciel let out a large gasp a second later as  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** released its hold on her. She grasped her neck. "If you really want the truth, I'll give it to you. We aren't going to throw the unknown away and hope it doesn't come back. Atlas plans on getting the Arrow and using it to discover what a Stand truly is." My jaw dropped at that. What…?

The girl in the blue beret stood up, dusting herself off. "The world is so full of unknowns. We don't know what the Grimm are, we don't know what creates Dust, we don't understand Aura or how it creates a Semblance, we barely even have a concrete grasp on this world. Remnans know so little, and the unknown creates fear. Why do you think Atlas is such a scientifically-inclined society? We can fight back against the fear and the Grimm through knowledge. If we can rationalize the world around us, it becomes less frightening. The closer we get to seeing the truth, the less fear we will have towards it."

She started pacing towards a waterfall-esque stage. "The Stand Arrow is the ultimate unknown. People fear it because no one can understand it. But if that's the case, why must we throw away what we can't comprehend? That's like throwing away Dust because it explodes when you hit it. Why don't we try to understand it? Why don't we try to learn its secrets? Atlas refuses to let an unknown slip away. And I, a soldier for the Kingdom, will do my duty to help my country in any way possible." She narrowed her eyes. "With that being said, can you promise me that no matter what, you will stick with me and not reveal anything to anyone else?"

"No," I responded. "There's no way I can make that promise."

A sigh escaped her mouth. "That wasn't a satisfying answer." My eyes widened. What the— The reptilian noose tightened around me. Oh gods… Not again—

Ciel combed a lock of hair back. "I'll ask the question again. I do recommend that you answer positively this time. After all, it is your duty as a partner to help the both of us. Will you stick with me and reveal nothing about what's going on to anyone else?"

I gagged, doing everything I can to push my hands underneath the snake Stand. No… I can't answer this question, no matter what. If I do, that's it for me. I'll be trapped in Ciel's grasp… maybe forever. My body started to shake. There's just enough room for me to breathe, if just barely. I have to get her Stand off of me now. But how? My eyes lit up the moment they landed on the pool of water from the ocean arena biome. Maybe…

My mind focused on increasing the density of my blood as I started towards the pool. Every breath I took filled up my lungs as best as I could. I really hope my Stand works that way, otherwise I'm screwed…

Ciel let out a hum of contemplation. "This is highly unusual. Jaune Arc, you do know that whatever you do, it'll be useless as long as I'm in control of my  **「** **LAST BREATH?** **」** Anything you plan on doing will be futile the moment I cut off the flow of air. It's as you say. I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation."

I ignored her. Don't waste a single breath on replying. Just… put yourself into position for this… Before Ciel can realize just what I'm planning to do. The density of my leg muscles increased tenfold. I took the biggest breath I could.

A sound escaped from Ciel's mouth. "You're not planning on—"  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** tightened around my neck completely. Just as I pushed off from the ground.

The girl behind me let out a gasp of surprise when I leaped forward, followed quickly by a choking sound. I knew it, her Stand doesn't have that much range. She's going to be dragged wherever I'm going. And as for where I'm going… I glanced at the deep pool of water below me. This is one hell of a gamble. But if it works… I turned around and grabbed as much of  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** as I possibly could before increasing its density. I'll be free.

My thoughts were disrupted the moment I hit the surface of the water. The liquid swallowed the both of us without any resistance and sent us sinking down into its depths. The occasional bubble floated out of my mouth as I looked around. Compared to the rocky terrain above, everything underwater looks way more artificial. The rock walls look smooth like concrete, making a clear bowl shape below the surface. And I'm surprised that it's not nearly as deep as an actual lake or any body of water. I think this place is only three meters deep at most. However, as long as I hold onto Ciel's Stand, it'll be deep enough to keep her stuck down here.

A flurry of air bubbles rushed out of Ciel's mouth, eyes wide open as she covered her mouth. It didn't help her much, causing another burst of bubbles to fly out.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** squeezed my neck tight, so hard that I can feel my arteries getting pinched off. This is it. This is my last stand right here. Who's going to run out of air first: Ciel or me? It's a fight of willpower now. Whoever gives in last is the one coming out of this okay.

Granted, I don't think that Ciel has much of a chance. She was caught unprepared by this move. The stream of air escaping Ciel's mouth started to slow as she started to move less. I can't tell whether she's trying to conserve air or if she's actually drowning. But even then, she can't have nearly as much air as I do. I made sure of that. Coursing through my veins is dense blood chock full of oxygen. Even with my brain receiving no new blood, I should be able to survive. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

I've never really given much thought about what exactly changes in terms of density, and especially not a liquid like my own blood. The volume is obviously not going to expand, so how would my blood get denser? If my blood adds more red blood cells to do so, then what if I made my blood oxygen-rich before I dived into the water? That way, no matter what happened to me underwater, I won't lose consciousness as quickly. I've done as much as possible to ride this out. Now the question is how far Ciel will go to make sure I don't get away. I shot her a glare. What are you going to do?

Seconds stretched on for what felt like hours. All I could do was watch as Ciel struggled above me. She has no power over me. She can cut off my blood flow and I'm sure that I'll still have enough oxygen to outlast her. The obvious, immediate option for her is to release her Stand and swim to the surface. I'm sure that the moment she drops her Stand, I'm free from her grasp, and she has to trap me again somehow. That's what any regular person would do.

Ciel, though… it's tough to tell whether she'll do it or not. At this point Ciel stopped struggling, instead focusing on making tiny movements to adjust herself in the pool. She was willing to die just to make sure that I wouldn't tell anyone about Atlas' knowledge. Would she be willing to sacrifice herself just for this as well? Maybe, but I doubt that she would. She can't be that suicidal to try and wait for me to run out of oxygen as well. Ciel is probably going to release me in order to escape—

My eyes widened a moment later when she kicked underwater, pushing herself downwards toward me. What the— She's going for me! And I can't move without letting go of  **「** **LAST BREATH,** **」** and if I do, then she's going to escape and I'm going to drown! A second later she pulled out a thin, pen-like tube. Huh? What is that?

She flicked her wrist. A knife blade flew out and locked itself into place. Oh my gods, she's not going to try and wait it out. She's just going to stab me! My eyes widened at the sight of the sharp utensil. I actually can't do anything! All I can do is watch and pray that she doesn't make it to me!

She kicked forwards again, getting a meter closer to me. No, I have to do something now. Something to keep her away long enough to force her to back off. Come on, Jaune… think! There's gotta be some way to push Ciel away… The water. Oceans have currents, how do they work? Well, the surface of the water's affected by wind, but I can't exactly do that from the bottom of this pool. Uh… a temperature difference between the surface and the bottom can create a current. I think the salinity of ocean water affects the ocean current, and the concentration of salt changes depending on depth— A couple of bubbles drifted out of my mouth as my mind hit an idea. That's it!

The water around me started shifting as  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** did its thing. My heart pounded at the sight of Ciel propelling herself through the water yet again. Come on… The liquid right above me rushed up to the surface, catching Ciel in the process. A flurry of bubbles escaped her mouth in protest as her body floated away from me, only to jerk to a stop once she reached the limit of her Stand's range. Ciel kicked again. She didn't even travel half a meter before the current pushed her back up.

It worked! Just like actual ocean currents! A denser fluid tends to sink to the ground, while a lighter liquid floats up to the surface. Temperature and salinity affects the density of water, which is why oceans have an underwater current in the first place. By changing the density of the water right above me, I've created a current that can keep Ciel away from me until she decides to let go. I blinked, feeling panic start to creep in. But I'm starting to see darkness from the corner of my eyes. I'm running out of air. But if that's the case… wouldn't Ciel be at her absolute limit as well? Is she still conscious?

I looked up. The girl in the beret at this point let go of her knife. She could barely move at this point. I could make out tiny twitches from her body, but otherwise she was motionless. But her eyes… she was giving me a glassy, almost inhuman look. Like a machine staring into my soul. What was she going to do now?

**「** **LAST BREATH** **」** disappeared from my grasp. The girl twisted herself to face the surface and started making a break for the surface. I reached out for my now unburdened neck. Oh my gods… I'm free! She let go of me! I got up underwater and called back my Stand. My body started floating up towards the surface a moment later. All I have to do now is make my way up to the surface, hopefully survive whatever counterattack Ciel is going to most likely hit me with, and tell everybody else to watch out for her. I looked up, only to see that she disappeared. Did she already make it up to shore?

A gasp escaped my mouth the moment I broke the surface, bringing in a welcome lungful of air. Oh my gods! Holy— Gods, it's so good to breathe again! I took my time, treading water as I recovered my breath. Gods, finding myself so close to drowning is scary. I don't want to do this ever again.

After I caught my breath, I looked around. Wait a minute… I raised my eyebrow. Where did Ciel go? She's actually gone. Did she leave and go somewhere else? Is she hiding somewhere? I swam back to the shore and pulled myself up. Maybe she did go away—

Something slammed into my side at that moment, toppling me over onto my back. Moments later Ciel pinned me down. "Yield," she stated, bringing another knife up to my neck. What? A second knife? No way!

I shook my head, grabbing her arm. Oh gods, she's stronger than she looks! My arms started wobbling at the sheer amount of pressure she was putting on me. I can't give up now…

Before she could do anything else, we felt a buzz rumble through both of our arms. We both widened our eyes. What the— Ciel rolled off of me and looked at her wrist. "The match is over?" Wha? The match?

The roar of the audience vibrated through the area a second later. Oh my gods… I can't believe it! We managed to use up the time?

"This isn't good," the girl muttered. "I have to get back before anyone can notice my absence." Ciel shot a glance at me before turning away. "I will concede to you, Jaune Arc. You may go free for now. However, do not expect any cordiality from me. We are now effectively enemies. If I see you again, I will not hesitate to end your life. Farewell."

I sank to the ground the moment she left. Oh my gods… I'm okay. I'm not going to be killed, and I know so much more stuff about what Atlas is doing right now that— oh gods, I need to warn someone! My scroll popped open in my hands. I need to make a call.

* * *

"Woohoo! Go team CFVY!" I waved my hands in the air as I cheered on the victorious team. The rest of team JNPR were sitting next to me, letting out hollers of their own. On the center stage our upperclassman friends waved to the crowd, basking in the energy of the crowd as they walked off. I flopped back down. "Man, that was a good match."

"Totally, Ruby!" Nora threw herself back into her seat. "Their team did so well this time around! Yatsu was totally controlling those two armored dudes, and did you see how Fox and Velvet double teamed that big dude?"

"I know, right?" I raised my arms in the air. "And Coco had her minigun just going 'ratatatatatatatata' and just taking down the other team just like that! It was so cool!" My mind focused on the entire arena around me as I shared a laugh with Nora. Huh… the sounds from underneath the stadium stopped. Did Weiss or Jaune run into something or someone? Granted, now that the sounds have stopped, I should hear something from the two of them. I'm sure they have this under control—

My scroll vibrated a moment later. That must be one of them now. I pulled it out. I wondered what happened?  _Ruby, big problem,_ the message said.  _Just attacked by Atlesian Stand user. Gather everyone as soon as possible._ My eyes widened. What? And who sent this— Jaune?

"Sorry, but I have to go," I muttered, standing up. He must've beaten them back. Jaune wouldn't be sending this to me if that wasn't a case. I started for one of the exits. This isn't good. There's an Atlesian Stand user? That can't be possible. We know for sure that there aren't supposed to be any Stand users from Atlas. Did the Cupid hit one of them? And why are they fighting us?

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 6/8/2018**

* * *

**Arslan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 3**

I felt a pit grow in my stomach as the elevator rose up the tower. Okay, Arslan… remember what Grauntie Carna said to you. She put her trust in me to do what's right for the Altan family. I took a deep breath as I ascended Beacon Tower. Focus. Don't let the nervousness get to you. This is just like my visit to Professor Oobleck and my research. Even if that meeting was mainly to satiate my curiosity more than anything else. Okay, I just need to keep my mind off of the meeting to come. Let's do that.

A sigh escaped me. But at the same time… It's remarkable, knowing that I've come closer to anyone else to finding the fantasma velos. This has been an issue that affected the Altan family for generations, and for the first time in forever, we know exactly what to do. We have a face to the one creating all of the Stand users: the Cupid. We have a general idea of why it's doing it, and that someone is controlling it from the shadows. Ruby's team is close to cornering the mastermind and taking back the fantasma velos. For the first time in forever, the Altan family is close to reclaiming the artifact and ending the curse that has plagued us. We can return the world to how it was back before the Great War: without knowledge of the great and dangerous power the fantasma velos holds.

My eyes flickered to the floor indicator. Still some ways to go. But then again, will the world really ever be the same? The damage has already been done. The Cupid has already turned several students into Stand users, not to mention who knows how many civilians out there. If we take away the power to create Stand users, we can be certain that there won't be any new ones. But times have changed. How well can we hide the Arrow away from the rest of the world?

The CCT… I let my eyelids close shut. The wild plains of information. Nothing stays forgotten on there. Even with the Headmaster's efforts to quell anything remotely connected to Stands, it might not be enough to keep the Arrow hidden forever. No doubt knowledge of the Arrow will eventually leak, and when it does, people will come looking for it. Another sigh escaped me. Us Altans managed to hide the fantasma velos for generations. It's a secret that's lasted centuries, millennia most likely. But can we keep the Stand Arrow hidden in this modern day and age? Is it worth trying to rebury an open secret?

Before I could think about the issue any further, the elevator let out a chime, followed by the elevator doors opening to an expansive office. The gray-haired man sitting behind the desk looked up right then and there before standing up. "Good morning, Ms. Altan. I've heard a lot from Ms. Rose." He gave me a bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"A—and to you, too." I bowed to him back.

The Headmaster smiled. "Please, come and have a seat." He gestured to a counter to the side with coffee and kettles for tea as I sat down. "Would you like a drink?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you. I'm fine. However, I think that we should get going with our discussion." I laced my fingers together. "We need to discuss what happens to the Arrow once it is retrieved."

"That's right, we do."

"I'm glad we agree on this. However, I won't be discussing the details. I'm just a messenger for the head of my family, someone to physically be there at the negotiation tables." I pulled out my scroll and hit a few buttons before placing the device on the table. "However, the actual negotiations will happen with the matriarch of the family, my great-aunt Carna."

A hologram flickered above the table, quickly forming the familiar face of my grandmother. "Is it on? I'm not seeing anything on my end— Oh! I'm getting an image now. I see the camera's working at the very least. Arslan, is the sound coming through fine?"

"Yes, it is," I replied.

"Ah… good." She glanced down at the Headmaster, who kept a stoic face as he looked at the woman in question. Carna smiled. "Good afternoon, although I suppose it is early in the morning for Vale." She nodded her head. "I am Carna Altan, leader of the Altan family. And I suppose that you are the representative for Vale once the Arrow has been reacquired?"

"That position will definitely fall to me, I suppose," the man chuckled. "As for me, I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. A pleasure to meet you, Carna."

"And to you, too. It is an exciting moment to meet a fellow Stand user and be able to talk on even terms for once." My grauntie let out a hearty laugh. "You must understand, it is a shock that for once a decent person with Stand powers isn't using them for nefarious purposes. And I do trust my grand niece's judgment. So I apologize ahead of time if I get on edge because of anything you say. It's a force of habit more than anything else."

The smallest of smiles crawled up the Headmaster's face. "There's nothing to apologize for. If anything, I must apologize that this entire situation affected your family for so long." He shook his head. "But I'm sure you didn't come here for apologies. You came here to discuss."

"Yes, yes… We shouldn't dawdle any longer. Let me lay everything out in a clear manner." The elderly woman straightened her back. "The Altan family wishes to make a deal with all of the Kingdoms for the Arrow. As you see, my family from my grandparents to my grandchildren have been guarding the fantasma velos. Ever since we lost it, we dedicated our lives to fighting other Stand users and protecting this world from the Stands, waiting for the day when we can reclaim the artifact. And from the sounds of it, that day has arrived."

Grauntie Carna laced her fingers together. "I think it's understandable that as the guardians of the Stand Arrow, we want to be assured that it will be dealt with safely, as to prevent any further incidents. Our family's greatest mistake… we do not want it repeated by those who know nothing. So that's we ask for now. Once the Arrow is secured, we want to make sure that the rest of the Kingdoms understand that we will be part of these discussions."

"Hmm… Now that's interesting. That was what I was going to suggest," the Headmaster chuckled. "It's hard deliberating about this, but after thinking this situation through, I would agree that we must actively address it. We won't be able to hide this any longer. We must speak earnestly about this to the other Kingdoms." He took a sip from his mug. "Or more importantly, we at least need to discuss this with the only other Kingdom who actively knows about the Arrow: Atlas."

The Headmaster let out a sigh. "Of course, we'll have this discussion with all of the Kingdoms eventually. However, Atlas is going to be a major priority. I personally have my suspicions that Atlas wants to use the Arrow and take advantage of Stands."

He held his hand up before Grauntie Carna or I could speak up. "Before you two say anything, let me say that I don't think that Atlas isn't doing what you might think they're doing. I don't think that they intend to use the Stands for their own personal gain or for global domination. I've had several talks with General Ironwood, and I can assure you both that he isn't someone who would abuse these powers. However, I don't want another Stand user to be born in this world. I'm sure you would agree with this sentiment, Carna."

She nodded. "Hmm… I do agree. Strong-willed individuals are dangerous enough people, even without Stands. But when their ambitions are backed by power… well, my family has seen the effects of that firsthand. But it's nice to know just who is important in the conversation about the Arrow." My grauntie took in a deep breath. "So, with that being said, when are you planning to have a meeting with this General?"

"Tomorrow evening, say… seven o'clock Vale Standard Time?" The Headmaster sat up. "It's a time where activity starts to lull and I can talk to the General without worrying about getting cut off by other work. I think that having you there will help facilitate the conversation on the Arrow."

"Oh, I just don't think that will do," Grauntie Carna sighed, shaking her head. "I'm afraid this old body isn't as energetic as it used to be. I don't think I would be able to keep myself awake that long, unfortunately." She raised a finger up. "However, I do think this is a better time than anything else. So, I will have my grand-niece Arslan serve as the spokesperson for the Altan family during your meeting with Atlas."

My eyes widened, turning to look at the hologram image. What? A cheeky grin grew on the woman's face. What is she thinking? Is Grauntie Carna really going to have me be the one doing all of the talking—

"So you would like Arslan to do the negotiations for you?" the Headmaster asked. He raised an eyebrow. "Is she prepared for this?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have made this choice if I thought otherwise." The old woman sat back in a chair I couldn't see. "She's the one with the most experience with the current situation, she's currently in Vale with you, and she has the willpower to go through with the negotiations. Of all of the family members I am in contact with right now, I can say with honesty that I trust that Arslan can represent the family during your talk with Atlas."

Ozpin went quiet for a moment. "I see." He nodded his head, before turning to me. "Is that fine with you?"

I nodded, feeling my stomach twist in a knot. This… this was unexpected. I didn't think that I would be doing this. I might have an understanding of the plan, but can I do a good enough job to convince Atlas to step aside…? I sighed. If Grauntie Carna trusts me to do it, then I will. I glanced up at the man. "It is. I see no issue with it."

"Alright then. I believe that will be all to the conversation, then." The Headmaster nodded his head. "It's an honor meeting with you, Carna. I hope we get the chance to talk again."

"As do I, Ozpin. As do I."

**=TBC=**


	38. Waiting for the Snake

"You can't be serious," Weiss groaned.

Jaune shook his head. "I wish I wasn't. But it's true. Ciel's a Stand user, and after what she did to me, we really need to worry about what happens next."

I looked around. The three of us were standing in line at one of the booths: Z.A.B. Candyman. From the looks of it they sell cotton candy popcorn and other various types of festival candy delights. If it was any other time, I would be awestruck at the existence of this sugary heaven. I mean, they have a strawberry shortcake sugar cookie pie! And it's like, the size of my head! Oh man, I would love to dig into something like that!

But at the same time, I can't help but be on edge. We're putting ourselves in danger staying in the area. After all, wasn't Jaune found by Ciel here half an hour ago? The last thing we need right now is Ciel or some other Stand user attacking us. Plus, Jaune looks suspicious and out of place. My eyes flickered to the almost dripping wet boy, eyes almost bloodshot and his neck red from his fight with Ciel. I can feel people's eyes bore into the back of our heads. We should avoid any more attention while we still can.

"Hey, Jaune?" He turned to look at me. "Don't you think it's a good idea to go somewhere else? Or at least get you into some dry clothes?" I glanced around to see a few people staring at the three of us. Or more specifically, staring at Jaune. They looked away the moment I met their eyes. "We're getting some weird looks, and I don't think it's going to end well—"

"It'll be fine, Ruby." A gentle smile grew across his face. "It's only going to be for awhile. I wrung out my clothes earlier, and  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」**  is doing everything it can to prevent the water from making a mess. I can easily go to a bathroom and use one of those air dryers to dry out my clothes and hair once I'm done. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it—"

"Well, shouldn't you be doing that first?" my partner asked. "Why are we waiting in line for this—" Weiss gestured towards the booth. "—This candy booth? Why not focus on drying yourself off?"

"Stubbornness, I guess," he shrugged. "I promised to get my team cotton candy popcorn balls. Sorta like a celebration treat for everyone. I didn't want to forget that I made the promise to them. And an Arc never goes back on his word." He winced after he said that, instinctually reaching for his throat before pulling back. His hand started shaking. "I want to at least do this thing for my teammates. They— they deserve it."

I raised my eyebrow. "Jaune, are you okay? I mean, Weiss can buy the treats for you if you're not up for it. After all, you just had a near—"

"Trust me, I'll be fine." The boy closed his eyes. "I'll recover from this. Just like how we recovered from the others."

A sigh escaped my mouth. "Okay." We stood in silence for a while, moving up bit by bit. "So…" I started. "I think we should talk about what Ciel's actions could mean. After all, I thought Atlas was supposed to be working with the city to protect Vale and the Amity. Why would they go after the Arrow and attack us out of nowhere?"

The blond boy hummed. "Well, she claimed that Atlas didn't know exactly who was friend and who was foe. When she figured out that I had powers like her, she went after me. So I'm thinking that Ciel got her powers recently, probably last Wednesday during the simulation." Jaune sighed. "But it's weird how Atlas only wants to learn about how the Arrow works. Ciel said something about needing to know exactly what the Arrow can do. The hope would be that if another situation with the Arrow happens in the future, then people can actually do something about it."

"Yeah… huh." I placed my hand on my chin. "That makes a little sense… Wait. Actually… no it doesn't. If that's what Atlas wanted the entire time, wouldn't they say something about it to the Headmaster? I mean, they are in Vale right now to make the city safer. Wouldn't the Headmaster receive a report from them and figure it out from there? Why are they trying to search for the Arrow by themselves?"

"Yeah, it's weird," Jaune sighed. "I'm not really sure, myself. Still, we can't let Atlas mess with our plans, unintentionally or not. Ruby, could you call the Headmaster and tell him about that? And Weiss, could you text everyone else to stay clear of Ciel?"

We both nodded our heads. "We'll do that," I said, pulling out my scroll and dialing up Headmaster Ozpin.

The professor picked up within an instant. "Good morning, Ms. Rose. Has your day been going well?"

"Yup, but well… something came up. Jaune just got attacked by a user here on the Amity Colosseum. But that's not the only problem. The thing is, the attacker happens to be working for Atlas. Her name is Ciel… Soleil?" I looked at Jaune, who nodded his head. "Atlas is trying to get the Arrow themselves for some reason, and Jaune got caught in the crossfire."

A sigh escaped from the speaker. "Oh dear. That  _is_  an unexpected event. I need you to fill me in on Ms. Soleil as best as possible. What does she look like, what is her personality, what kind of Stand ability does she have, questions like that." I did so, saying as much as I can remember off the top of my head, with Jaune occasionally interrupting with a point of his own. Once I was finished, the Headmaster let out a sharp breath. "Thank you for that. I'll try to have a discussion with the Headmaster of Atlas Academy about this. Are the rest of your teammates safe?"

"Yup. They're good right now. We haven't found anything this morning aside from Ciel, but we'll continue on with our search soon enough."

"Thank you for the call, then. Have a good day." I ended the call and glanced at the others.

"So," I started. "What are we doing to do about Ciel? She's eventually going to come back and find you, Jaune. And yeah, even if you got lucky that she ran out of time before, there's no way she's going to let that happen a second time. She'll probably let her own teammates move up and hunt you down herself."

"I know." Jaune let out a sigh. "But as far as I know, her ability is only dangerous whenever I make an agreement or a favor with her. As long as we watch what we're saying, then she can't bind us with her  **「** **LAST BREATH.** **」** Without the ability, it's just a punch ghost. Or I guess more of a punch snake." His shoulders sagged. "I really don't want to face her again. But I don't think it'll go that bad as long as I'm careful." He shot a grin at us. "We'll make it out okay, just like we always do."

"Right." I glanced at the line. "Oh! We're close to the front! So you said you were going to buy what from this place?"

"Cotton candy popcorn balls," he responded.

That caused me to raise an eyebrow. "I saw it on the menu, but I'm not really sure about it.

What's that?"

"Wait, you haven't tried these? Well…"

* * *

A pale blue light glowed from the holographic monitor as I typed up the details of the Stand user Ms. Rose described to me. Ciel Soleil… Atlesian native, leader of team CPPR at Atlas Academy. Brilliant prodigy from the looks of her previous school records. And recently turned Stand user. Unless I'm wrong about this, she must be the specialist James was talking about last week. I let out a sigh as I ran my hands through my hair. My gods… yet another person affected by the Arrow. And instead of figuring out how to bury it, James wants to put the world at risk just to learn about it. He's is serious about playing with fire, isn't he?

Before I could continue my thought process, my desk rang. Huh? I looked down to see a flashing phone button with a picture of Qrow. Oh. Is it time for the meeting already? I glanced at a nearby clock. It is.

I answered the call, revealing him sitting at a cafe. He seemed to have a mug of coffee in front of him. Outside the view of the camera, I could hear Specialist Schnee speaking to someone else. I adjusted my collar. "Good morning, Qrow," I started, lacing my fingers together. "I assume you're making a status report?"

"Yup. You'll like the good news." My former student shifted his weight. "Winter and I think we found the person you're looking for. How we found her was interesting, to say the least. We were following a lead on the White Fang when we saw her climb out of an abandoned picture frame, without the backing and all. The compass pointed straight at her the moment she climbed out, so we tailed her. We found her in this cafe paying for a meal of a little child. Winter's currently talking to her. I'll show you what she looks like."

The camera feed blurred for a moment before refocusing on the Specialist and the girl in question. She had shoulder-length brown hair and a tan complexion. She's wearing a white corset with a brown leather vest above it. She had a slightly nervous look, with her hand resting on a pauldron she had on her shoulder. She's fairly young, maybe two years older than a Beacon graduate. At her side was a retractable staff with a hollow spiral casing. Likely a place to insert a Dust crystal for fighting.

"We're trying to confirm whether or not we actually got the right person." Qrow let out a scoff as he turned the camera back to his face. "Even with that display, I'm trying to figure out if what she just did is actually teleportation like Raven. And it's harder to convince her to do it again." He sighed. "I would rather not go through so many hoops to make sure, but if we're sure it's not a Semblance, then I think we might have your person."

"That's excellent news, Qrow." A smile crawled across my face. Whew… we were lucky, after all. For once Fortune smiled upon us. All we have to do is move her somewhere relatively safe until we can root out the Cupid, White Fang, and the masterminds behind it all. But getting this girl will put a damper on her plans—

"Oh, Ozpin? Maybe I've spoken too soon. I think we might have a problem." I glanced back at the screen. Qrow started looking a bit worried. "The girl's not really reacting well to the news. Winter's losing control of the situation. I gotta step in and help her sort it out. I'll send a message about anything else we learn. See ya later, Oz." Before I could say anything more, the call ended.

I stared blankly at the empty screen. What just happened? Qrow said something about the girl not reacting well. What could he mean by that? A sigh escaped my mouth. I hope Qrow and Winter can handle the situation properly. We need to get her to safety before somebody else finds her. If she is the person we're looking for.

I turned back to my desk, reached over for my keyboard and stopped, before letting out a long sigh. Oh right, I forgot to ask Qrow to at least give me the name of the girl in question. I'll just have him text it to me once he and Winter get a grasp on the situation. But for now, I'll just focus on another matter I have to deal with. I started inputting a number into my desk.

A portrait of James' face appeared on the screen, followed by the sounds of a call dialing. I tapped against the side of the desk while I waited for the call to go through. To be honest, there's not a lot to be angry about. James did say that he was going to do an investigation of his own. And I always had the suspicion that he managed to get a Stand user of his own, especially with how quickly he was able to concede to my wishes to keep everything quiet. But there's no way we can allow any conflict between our two teams to happen. It's already bad enough as it is trying to root out the individuals who plan on committing an act of terrorism.

The screen let out a high-pitched 'beep' before fading into James' face. "Ozpin," the man started. "What a surprise. I didn't expect you to call so soon after our previous meeting."

"Admittedly, I didn't either." I adjusted my glasses. "But of course, sometimes new things come up, things important enough that we have to discuss it." I leaned forwards. "This concerns your specialist, or should I say Stand user?"

That caused James' face to stiffen. "I'm not quite sure about what you're talking about—"

"This morning one of the individuals hunting down the Cupid was attacked by a Ciel Soleil. This individual was appointed and approved by me. She used her Stand ability to strongarm my person into working for her, although they managed to get away." I shook my head. "Frankly, I find this disappointing. We are allies, unofficial though we may be, and our operatives attacked each other in the name of searching for the Arrow. It is unacceptable to have this kind of infighting between the two of us, especially when the threat of an attack looms above us. So I think it's about time we revisit the Arrow issue and hash out an agreement now."

"Normally, I would be inclined to agree. After all, you were the one who decided to put a hold on negotiations." James adjusted his weight. "However, Ozpin, unless you have changed your mind about recklessly burying something we don't know, I can't make any agreements."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Can't, or won't?"

The man took a sharp breath in. "So have you changed your mind about this? Do you now understand that we need to learn about the Arrow to understand it in a new light?"

"Well, I think we can figure something out. I've talked to a representative of the Mistralian family in charge of protecting the Arrow. The one I said was supposed to guard it at all costs. I had a conversation with her, and I think we can come to an agreement here." I gestured to the elevator. "In fact, I've called her to join us right around now. I hope you don't mind."

"No, no." James shook his head. "If anything, this is good. I'm glad you can see reason for once, Ozpin. So, if you don't mind me asking, who is this individual that we're meeting?"

A ding escaped through the PA, followed by the elevator doors opening. Out stepped the team leader of ABRN. "Come in, Ms. Altan. You're right on time." She nodded, stepping into my office and taking a seat in front of my desk. "Let me introduce her to you, James. This is Arslan Altan, leader of ABRN and representative of the Altan family."

"Thank you, sir. I'll take the introductions from here." She sat up in her seat. "As said before, I am Arslan, only child of Maceti Altan and Tallow Altan. My family is the guardians of fantasma velos, or the Stand Arrow in the modern tongue. I'll refer to the artifact as the Arrow for simplicity. My family has been searching for the Arrow for generations, you see. Ever since we lost it during the Great War. And although we haven't had possession of the Arrow for eighty years, it is still our responsibility to deal with anyone or anything related to it."

"Which brings us to this meeting," she continued. "Normally, the eldest member of the Altan family would be the one to negotiate and make decisions involving the Arrow. That would be my great-aunt in this case. However, neither she or any of my living relatives are in any position to fly over to Vale and discuss this in person. Which leaves me to be my great-aunt's messenger. I've discussed this issue with her, and we generally agreed that while we want custody of the Arrow first and foremost, we are open to the idea of modernizing and allowing others to perform experiments on the artifact."

"Ah." James nodded his head. "Those are… acceptable terms. We are willing to acknowledge the Altan's ownership of the Arrow, as long as Atlas has the rights to use it for testing—"

"I didn't state any of the actual terms yet." Ms. Altan raised her hand up. "They are as follows. One: every Kingdom's Council will acknowledge the sovereignty of the Altans and that the Arrow exclusively belongs to us. While we might be Mistralian natives, the issue of the Arrow transcend all allegiances to our respective Kingdoms. We will not be pawns for any Kingdom to benefit from. Two: any and all research concerning the Arrow must be done in the company of at least two members of the Altan family and representatives from all four Kingdoms." I wrinkled my brow. This is already getting extreme—

"Three: under no circumstances can any new Stand users be formed in any of these experiments or the time between experiments. Four: any current Stand user and everyone who knows about the Arrow must swear an oath of secrecy and passivity, where they cannot reveal or use anything learned in any experiment performed, nor use their abilities, for their own selfish means. Five: any Stand user who refuses to cooperate with the oath will be hunted down and killed if necessary." She sighed. "Our family thinks that this is the best offer we can give others. It already compromises the safety of many for just this much. As such, these terms are non-negotiable. Anything less then that and we will not accept."

We stood in silence as we mulled upon what she just said. Without a doubt, this is a deal that I would readily accept. We return the Arrow to its rightful owners, and James gets the chance to study the Arrow, just like he wanted to. But at the same time, I'm not sure how James would react to such a deal. What she's suggesting is difficult to swallow, especially for a man like James. Ms. Altan is asking him to give up a lot of power and control, and who knows whether this is enough to satisfy him.

I stared at James' face, which contorted as conflicting feelings flashed in his eyes. It's almost impossible to figure out what's running through his mind right now. Eventually, the man sighed. "This is a difficult choice. Do know that I have to consider both what you are saying, Ms. Altan and add that to the fact that Atlas needs to work with Vale to stop the Cupid at the current moment. So forgive me for my hesitation. You are asking a lot from Atlas and giving us so little."

"In my opinion, that's a necessity. Stand powers should not exist in this world, period. Stand users to this day can have enough power to be classified as a weapon of mass destruction. Just one Stand user losing control is enough to cause a lot of damage. The attack on Unity Amphitheater is a clear example of that."

The girl adjusted her seat. "And the Headmaster did mention how the person masterminding all of this has an ability that, if left unchecked, can destroy civilization. Is that not enough of a reason for all of these precautions? Knowledge is only worth the risk if the risk can be minimized. You said you wanted to learn about the Arrow. This is how you can learn without risking the lives of so many people."

James let out a huff, followed by a sigh. "… I don't like this deal one bit. So many lives are at stake, and this deal effectively strongarms Atlas and all of the Kingdoms into submission. These conditions, while reasonable, effectively give the Altan family much more power than they should have. What makes us think that the Altans won't try to take power once this crisis is over?"

"We don't have political aspirations." Arslan rested her hands on her lap. "Our family have always been servants, and we believe with all of our hearts that we will handle the dirty work if it means keeping everyone else's hands clean. Our terms help us adapt to a more modern world. Something that we admittedly failed to do eighty years ago. All we want is to right the mistakes of the past. Nothing more."

That got my colleague thinking. "Hmm… Noble. It's a rare trait these days." He waved the thought away. "But don't mind the comment. Thank you for the clarification on the matter. But hmm… I want to negotiate this at a later time, when we don't have as much to worry about. However, I will agree to one of your terms right now: the first one. If the Kingdom of Atlas was to recognize the Altan's ownership of Arrow, will that be enough to satisfy your family until we can properly negotiate?"

Arslan let out a hum. "This is something I will have to mention to my great-aunt… however, knowing that the family artifact will return to us is a comforting thought. I personally cannot make this agreement myself, but I see nothing wrong with accepting your offer now, followed by a proper discussion once everything dies down. I'll get in contact with them and tell you what our decision is tomorrow."

The man nodded. "Alright. Thank you, Ms. Altan. Now, if there isn't anything else that needs to be mentioned… I'll be off."

"That's all I want to discuss, James," I said. "I'm sure that we'll trade information on what we have on the Cupid once we can formalize this deal. But I assume that Ciel won't try anything else?"

James nodded his head. "I'll discuss this with her and tell her to restrain herself from now on. By the time I get to her, she won't be an issue for your team."

"That's all I ask. Have a wonderful day, James."

"And to you, as well. Goodbye, Ozpin. Ms. Altan." The call ended, leaving just me and Ms. Altan alone in my office.

I nodded my head. "That went better than I expected. I honestly thought that this conversation would break down. Thankfully James decided to bite his pride down for the greater good. This should prevent any more conflicts, conflicts that we don't need." I looked at Arslan. "Are you sure that your family will accept this?"

"They understand more than anyone else that desperate situations call for desperate measures. The ultimatum was a bluff, after all. Every statement we made were just our ideal wishes, not our actual terms, per say. The fact that we managed to get the first promise and a chance to negotiate on proper terms is wonderful." She stood up before bowing down to me. "Thank you for giving the Altan family this opportunity. We will not forget your kindness. Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to my team and take care of them."

"Go ahead."

Long after Arslan left, I leaned back and let out a sigh. What I need now more than ever is a break. A long break. I should go for another walk. It's been way too long since I walked anywhere besides around the office. Too much work with the Vytal Festival. I took up my cane and started towards the elevator. Maybe I should walk to the fairgrounds and enjoy the festive atmosphere. After two weeks of being stuck in a tight space, it would be a nice change of pace.

Just as I was about to reach for the elevator button, I changed my mind, instead walking towards a window as I holstered my cane. While I'm at that, why not enjoy a bit of excitement? I pushed it open and pulled myself out, stepping on one of the ledges.

The window was closed behind me and locked, as if a mysterious force was still in the room with me. " _Sir,_ " a familiar voice whispered behind me. " _It's been awhile since you tried anything like this. Are you sure this is a good idea?_ "

"I could use a bit of practice." I pushed my glasses up on my face. "After all, despite what we do, there's a chance that everything could still go wrong. I need to be at my best if I want to fight again."

" _And are you sure that this will not end poorly for you?_ "

"You've never failed me," I responded. "Not back then, and certainly not now." I closed my eyes. "I trust that you'll protect me no matter what." Before my Stand could respond, I let myself tip over, sending myself careening down towards the ground. Despite the dangerous situation, I kept my eyes closed and allowed myself to fall. There's nothing to worry about, after all. Nothing will stop my **「** **BLACK BEATLES** **」** from doing whatever it takes to fix the past.

My breath stopped for a moment as I felt myself suspended in mid-air. Hands grabbed and pulled me down. The next thing I knew, my feet were standing on something solid. Start. I opened my eyes to see myself standing on the bottom of the CCT tower, with no one in sight. Ahh… I took in a deep breath. I still got it. After stretching my limbs, I took out my cane and hummed a tune to myself as I made my way towards the fairgrounds.

* * *

_Momo let out a long sigh as she sat on the rickety houseboat with Muerba and an old fisherman. "Takumi-san, you didn't need to do this for us. After all, you out of all people must be aware of who we are."_

" _I do," the man nodded, continuing to row regardless. "Rumors pass around quickly, especially with the recent decree moving through the land. One hundred and fifteen thousand yen… From the sounds of it, Lord Mamushi really wants you two dead for what happened to his brother. I always had my doubts about the decree, but I want to hear it from the source. Was the murder of Lord Etsumi by your hand?"_

" _No. We were framed," Muerba said simply. "We gave up the life of killing long ago, and we were living as farmers far away from the palaces when the assassination took place."_

" _Hmm. I see." The man continued rowing. "I have no reason not to believe you. I'll take your word as is."_

" _Really?" Momo shot up to her feet. "Just like that? You'll believe our word over the word of your lord?"_

" _Of course," Takumi grunted. "I'm convinced of your innocence. Like I said, stories travel far. And from the small village of Kuwa, I've heard the praises of a young couple that just moved in. A couple that stopped a group of bandits from extorting Kuwa into bankruptcy. A couple that gave back to the villagers and showed kindness even as the former assassins of the infamous Kobura clan. A couple so endeared that said villagers pleaded with every fisherman that passed by to take them to the coast and escape the islands. We common folk might be dumb, but we have our eyes on everything happening. And kindness is treated with kindness."_

_Momo bowed. "Thank you, Takumi-san. We are honored to hear that."_

" _It is my honor." The man glanced up at the sky. "The sun is about to go down. I think it's best to stop here. You two go ahead and sleep first. This is a wonderful spot to catch sweetfish."_

_Both Momo and Muerba nodded, heading into the boathouse. "What do you think about the man?" Muerba asked as they slipped into the futon. "Do you think he's trustworthy, even after what he said?"_

_The woman nodded. "He seems simple, but he has a surprising amount of wisdom. There's nothing but honesty in his words. I think he will fulfill his promise to get us out of here." She pulled herself into Muerba's chest and gave her partner a kiss. "I'll take first watch in a couple of hours. But let's enjoy ourselves tonight. Just the two of us, okay?"_

_Muerba let out a hum, nuzzling his partner. "Yeah."_

"Hey Blake."

I shot a glare at my partner. The two of us sat in the lounge together. The projector was set to the Vytal Festival tournament. From the looks of it, it was team CPPR vs LPIS. There was that Penny girl that insisted Ruby was her friend swinging around her levitating swords, just decimating the other team. Aside from us, no one else was in the room with us. "If you're going to comment on Ninjas of Love yet again, I swear to gods—"

"What? I wouldn't do that!" I continued to stare a hole into Yang's forehead. "Okay,  _normally_  I would. I mean, granted, you make it way too easy. How can I not tease you about it? But that's not the point! Weiss sent me a text a couple of minutes ago, and well… you have to see this."

She showed me her scroll.  _Everyone, take care to avoid Ciel Soleil at all costs,_ the text read.  _She just attacked Jaune. While he's okay, his fight took a toll on him. We know that she's a Stand user. We're trying to keep her focus on the Amity Colosseum, but we can't guarantee everyone's safety. If you find her, do not answer any of her questions. Her Stand will choke you if you do. -Weiss._

"Who's Ciel Soleil?" I asked.

"And with that final knockout, the team moving onto the next round is team CPPR from Atlas Academy!" Yang just pointed at the screen. The camera was currently focused on a dark-skinned girl in a light blue button-up dress and combat skirt. She adjusted her beret and glanced at her watch while the rest of her team gave polite waves to the rest of the audience. "That is some sheer efficiency that team leader Ciel Soleil showed here today, don't you think Peter?"

I pointed at the screen. "It's her we have to worry about?" Yang nodded. That's… that's not good. Somebody with that much discipline is concerning, to say the least. I mean, she managed to put Jaune in a hard position, and he arguably has the most experience on our team, next to Ruby. If she can do that to him…

We sat there in silence as we absorbed this information. "Well…" Yang started. "I guess we should continue our search, then."

I nodded, standing up with Yang. "Right. We've already searched all of the team dorms from Vale as well as the ones from every Stand user we're aware of. So, what's next? Who are we searching this time around?"

"From the looks of it…" My partner glanced at her scroll. "CMEN's next on our list." She swallowed a laugh. "Heh… ahh, that never gets old. But yeah. We're checking them now."

"Their room is fairly close to here, right?"

"Yeah, I think. Room 314. That's in this hallway, I think." I nodded, glancing at each door. Room 304, 306, 308… 314! We stopped in front of the room in question.

"So…" Yang nodded her head. "I guess it's all you now. I'll just be standing here then." I sighed as **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** appeared behind me. Here we go… breaking into people's rooms again.

I pushed my head into the door, merging with it in the process. Almost immediately after that, I drove my hand under the bottom part of the door and pulled myself to the other side. And like that, I'm in the room in maybe half a second. I stepped out of the door and glanced around at the room in question.

My nose wrinkled in an instant. Ugh! It just reeks in here! Ack— I gagged and pinched my nose. Tears ran down my eyes at the odor invading my nostrils. It's so disgusting and foul— There's no way four people can reek up the room after only a couple of months! Oh my gods… I can't take it! My eyes shot towards the closed window. Air!  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** shot towards the glass and shoved it open.

I let out a large gasp as a fresh breeze tumbled into the room. Oh my gods! Fresh air! I waved my hand over my face, airing out the room as best as I could. Whew, I can finally breathe. But that smell… that was horrible. What could've caused this horrible, horrible smell?

For the first time since I came in, I took a look around the room. My eyes widened. Oh wow. The first thing I noticed were the clothes on the ground. So, so many clothes. Both men's and women's clothes were laying around their owner's respective beds in various states of cleanliness, ranging from worn maybe once to unremovable stains actually changing the original color. It's like they've never used detergent or something. A pair of white gloves sat on top of one of the beds with some kind of weird rune etching on it. Almost cultish in a sense.

I felt my face contort. This room's disgusting. They don't use a laundry bin for all of their dirty clothes? Then there were these bits of leftover food and wrappers on the ground— And I swear I can smell something oily. I sniffed once before scowling. Yeah, that's oil. I didn't know that was a thing. After seeing all this, I don't mind Weiss' compulsive cleanliness so much. How can anyone live in an environment like this?

And I thought CMEN were weird people before. This is a new level of unusual about them. I thought that they would care at least a little bit about keeping things clean. They look like they take care of themselves with how they dress up and everything. So why is their room an absolute mess? I shook my head. You know what? It doesn't matter right now, because I need to search for any signs of the Cupid.

I glanced at the roof. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't anything suspicious or disgusting up on the ceiling. I almost expected there to be a bit of mold growing over them. Maybe outside? I glanced out of the window. Nothing really seems off. The leaves were turning an assortment of orange and red, but that's about it. Desks? I glanced at all of the bookshelves and rifled through all of their desk drawers. Mercury's desk had mainly comic books. Emerald had a decent collection of short stories and novels. Cinder surprisingly didn't have a lot of books on her shelf aside from the normal textbooks and—some book that I don't recognize. And the last bookcase is empty. Just more of Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury's clothes. It's like their last team member never existed.

Where else can I search? I let out a hum. Maybe the closet? But then again, we only searched someone's closet when we had someone's permission. Just rummaging through someone's closet without permission feels… wrong. But then again, we can't exactly ask CMEN for permission, and we can't prove that they're innocent. I sighed. I guess I have to do it.

The moment I stepped forwards, a crashing noise in front of me caught my attention. What the— I looked at the closet door. Is it just me, or did the noise come from in there? There's no way… is it possible? I slowly crept towards the door, bringing out my Stand. If the Cupid's really in there, can I attack it in time? Can I land the killing blow before it can hurt anyone else? My hand shook as I reached for the handle. I'll throw the door open at the count of three. What happens happens. One… two… I held my breath. Three!

**「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** rushed in ahead of me as I flung the door aside. My eyes widened. What the— I stared into the empty closet. Nothing. There's nothing in here. The only thing that I could make out were the several scratches on the sides of the closet, all in single strokes. Not claw-like at all. That's weird… What could've caused these scratches? The only thing I could think could do this is the Cupid, so it might be hiding here. I leaned my head in. Don't see the Cupid hiding. And it doesn't look like there's any way out of this closet, like an air vent or something. Maybe I misheard. But if that's the case, what could've caused that sound?

But that's strange. They have a perfectly empty closet. I let out a hum as I closed it. Why don't any of team CMEN store any of their clothes and items here? Even the dirty ones? I mean it's a lot better than keeping them out in the open. I turned around. But I guess if there isn't anything else, I'll just leave. I closed the door and started back for the entrance. We'll just check on the next room—

My eye fell towards the unmarked book. Hmm… Why is it unlabeled? Maybe the ink wore away over the years. But maybe I should check and see what's in here anyway. I grabbed it off of the shelf and started flipping through it. You never know what it might have— My eyes narrowed. Huh? I'm staring at what looks like a sketchbook, which explains the reason it had no title. But the images on here—

I stared at the surprisingly detailed drawings. Some of them were landscape drawings, others focused on architecture, like an unusual-shaped fountain. But after a certain point, there was an increasing amount of pictures of people. And not just regular portraits. There were deformed faces, eyes with no irises, grotesque bodies with warts and acne and sores oozing with who knows what, so on and so forth. I stared at this with amazement and horror.

Oh my gods… this is kinda messed up. But for some reason I can't stop staring. Even though each person looked grotesque, something about their posture, their facial expression is so distinctly… Remnan. Like they were actual people. I assume Cinder drew these. And I have to admit, she can put a photographer to shame with these skills. But why draw this?

Something rubbed against my fingers as I made it to the end of the book. What the— I glanced at the black substance on my fingertips. Is this… charcoal? I glanced at the image, and my jaw dropped. Forget what Cinder used to draw the image. What in the world am I staring at?

The last page had an intricate drawing of an hourglass with a particular rune-like engraving on the wooden top. In the bottom bulb were the faces of several Remnans, all in a state of terror. They all clawed against the glass, as if trying to escape.

Above them was a dark, grimy liquid, dripping towards them. But the weird thing is that the people actually hit by the oily substance weren't panicking in the picture. They were calm, almost ecstatic in fact. Even as the black liquid wrapped around them, they held hands, laughed, smiled. They were happy they were going to sink into the liquid. To finish it off, there was some sort of baby hand grasping the hourglass, who tipped it over and caused all this.

I blinked a couple of times after I took in the image. I'm getting a lot of conflicting feelings. What in the world is this about? How is this a good thing? Why would something like this be drawn? It's so… bizarre. Could it mean something? I don't know… maybe it's nothing, but I'll take a picture of it. My scroll scanned the page in question. It definitely caught my attention, alright. The book slid back into its original spot. Okay, if that's out of the way, I'll just take my… leave… My eyes glanced at the window, only to widen with surprise.

The Cupid stared back at me. It sat on the perch of the window, reaching for something on one of the beds. In its other hand, it waved around the one thing we've been looking for. The Arrow. What in the world— What is it doing here? No, how did it get there in the first place? Was it outside the entire time, and I just happened to let it back in? No matter. I got it in my sights.

"Yang," I whispered, knocking softly against the front door. "Stay quiet. The Cupid is sitting on the window sill right now. Text the rest of the team." I brought  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** out. "I'm going to try and take it down."

"You better hurry," she whispered back. "I can see people are coming back now. It's going to be a manner of time before Cinder and her team gets back." I let out a quiet hiss hearing that. It's right there in front of us. We can take it down now. But the sad part is that Yang's right. I don't have a lot of time. All I can do is jump in and hope that I don't fail too badly.

I started towards the monster, causing it to stand up onto its two feet. A growl escaped my mouth. "You're not going anywhere. I'm going to make sure that you stay here and you give us back the Arrow. Now, are you going to give it to us or not?"

In response, the Cupid let out a titter before jumping out of the window. My eyes widened. No! I jumped right after it, sinking my hand into the part of the wall right next to the window.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** closed the window in the meantime.

I glanced around the area. Come on… where are you… there! I spotted the creature a couple of meters below me. Something was off about how it was flying, though. It occasionally wobbled this time around, instead of smooth flying like back in the dorm. Did something happen to it? I shook my head. It doesn't matter. What matters right now is capturing this thing and taking the Arrow back!

I ripped my hand out of the wall, allowing gravity to drag me down towards my target. The Cupid stared at me in return, not really reacting to my approach. Maybe this is my chance. Claws shot out from  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS.** **」** I'll make a move right here and now! And then just like that, the Cupid waved its arms before diving to the ground and entering a nearby sewer grate. No! I slammed into the ground. We couldn't have lost it! We can't! It was right there!

My scroll rang. "Blake!" Yang exclaimed from the other side of the speaker. "You okay? Did you get it?"

"No." I let out a sigh. "It got away." I slammed my fist into the wall. "And we were so close! We could've gotten it right there!"

"Hey, look at the bright side. We know for sure that it's here in Beacon right now. We can easily pick up on its trail. Let me get to you. By the way, where did the thing go?"

I groaned. "It escaped through one of the storm drains. It's probably down there in the sewers."

That got a gasp out of Yang. "Sewers?" I heard a sigh escape the speaker. "Oh boy. That's not going to be fun. But don't worry. I'll get to you as soon as I can. See ya." The call ended.

We're so close now. I stared at the grate the Cupid entered. We know it's here. This thing doesn't have a lot of room left to work with. All we need to do now is track it down and take the Arrow.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without any incidents. And before we knew it, we were on the third day of the Vytal Festival. I shivered, pulling the strings of my hoodie tighter. My eyes flickered to the evening sky as it dipped towards twilight. And from the looks of it, nothing's going to happen today, either. I sat in the stadium with Ren. Nora and Pyrrha were on the field, fighting against two of the guys from team SSSN. I think it was Neptune and Sun? Yeah, that's right.

A yawn almost escaped my mouth as I watched the fight go on. Man, I wish I could be searching for the White Fang right now instead of sitting here. But it's necessary. I'd probably raise the suspicions of my team if I wasn't there to watch them. I mean, Weiss said that she'll be able to handle herself until the two v. two match between JNPR and SSSN was over. At the same time, it does worry me a bit. After all, Ciel's still out there.

Even the Headmaster's message about the deal taking place doesn't do much to put me at ease. They're still working on the agreement. Which means that within this timeframe, somebody could still get hurt by Ciel either unintentionally or intentionally. Knowing that we still aren't safe is just— I'm a little freaked out, to be honest. Hopefully nothing goes wrong.

"Jaune," Ren stated.

"Hmm?" I looked at him. "What is it?"

"Have you ever had a moment where you reflected back on your life? When you thought through everything that has happened so far?"

"Of course. All the time. Honestly, my life's gotten crazy ever since I decided I wanted to apply for Beacon. Why do you ask?"

Ren shrugged. "No reason. I guess watching Nora fighting just got me thinking. About back home at Mistral."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You guys used to be from Mistral, just like Pyrrha." I rested my hands against the back of my head. "It's kinda strange now that I think about it. Three people on a Valean team used to be from Mistral. I know that Pyrrha decided to move because she didn't like how she was put on a pedestal there. What about you and Nora? Why did you guys choose Beacon instead of Haven?"

"The story's... a little weird." Ren sat up a bit. "Did we tell you about how we were orphaned?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Alright then. So we spent a bit of time traveling all by ourselves after… we were orphaned. We originally wanted to go to the capital, where they would most likely have an orphanage."

The boy watched his partner fight. "But because we didn't know where to go, we actually went in the opposite direction, towards the southwestern coast. To make a long story short, we managed to make it to a port town, and we stowed ourselves in a boat. We thought the boat would take us to the city of Mistral. We ended up in Vale instead."

He rubbed the back of his head. "To answer your original question, it's not like we picked Haven over Beacon. We stranded ourselves in Vale, and Beacon happened to be the closest Huntsmen Academy we could get to. We didn't have any lien, either."

"Oh… huh." I nodded my head at that. "That makes sense." I sighed. "But yeah… it's pretty interesting to think about. The sound of the buzzer followed by the roars of the crowd caught my attention. Is the match over? I looked over to see my teammates battered and tired, yet victorious over the other team.

"And the match is over!" Port let out a chuckle. "Ladies and gentlemen, give a round of applause for team JNPR!"

I clapped with the rest of the audience as Pyrrha and Nora left the stadium. "It's almost scary seeing the two of them fight together," Ren said, nodding his head. "Pyrrha's like the scalpel of the team, while Nora's like the hammer. Together they can break through anything, don't you think?"

"True." I leaned my head against my arm. "Sometimes I'm convinced that these two could become a two-woman army. No need for us. Just Nora and Pyrrha is enough to break through anything."

My scroll started buzzing in my pocket. Oh, is somebody calling me? I pulled it out. "Hello?"

"Jaune Arc." My breath hitched in an instant. Ciel Soleil. She must've searched up my number yesterday. But this can't be happening… she's calling me right now. I can feel my heart beating faster. Now this is scary. Can her Stand ability work through calls? Do I want to risk it to find out?

Before I could say anything, the girl continued. "Before you say anything, let me say what I want to say. What happened yesterday was an error on my part. It was foolish to try and trap you. I'm not calling for such a thing this time. If anything, I want to extend an olive branch. I am currently in the maintenance rooms like yesterday. The door right before the area where the terrains are stored is a surveillance room. Meet me there. I promise it'll be worth your time." The call ended right after that.

What in the world? I pocketed the scroll. That was weird. Why would Ciel do something like that? I mean, the Headmaster did tell us he warned the General. But to tell Ciel so quickly? I can't help but feel there's something else in play. She might be trying to do something. At the same time… maybe she has changed. I don't really know. But something tells me that either way, our issues with Atlas are finished after this.

I guess there's only one thing to do. I have to go back and see what this is about.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 6/22/2018**

* * *

**Arslan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 4**

As I walked out of the airship and into the Amity Colosseum, I let out a long sigh. It's been an entire day and a half. And despite the fact that night has come once again, we've still heard nothing from the Atlesian general. Granted, that should be expected. He is a busy person, especially with how he's trying to run security here. Still, it's tense waiting for his answer. It will very much decide how the future will go.

My mind went back to yesterday's events. That meeting… went a lot better than I thought it would. I didn't mess up too badly, there weren't any twists or surprises that caught me off guard. The General was surprisingly accepting of the deal we laid on the table, especially considering how hard line the initial deal was. It might've been what we ideally want out of the deal, but we weren't trying for an ultimatum. I was expecting to fight tool and nail with him on some aspect of the deal or another. But then… he didn't resist that much. Maybe a bit of debate, but not nearly as much as I expected.

I didn't think that he would take one part of the deal in its current state. My eyebrow furrowed. You would think someone whose best interest is keeping the Arrow as long as possible would be more resistant to the deal, or at least more willing to counter offer. Maybe the General was more willing to make a deal than I thought he would. But certainly something changed about the situation. Maybe it's the pressure of finding the Cupid and stopping the White Fang before they strike.

My grauntie appeared on the screen of my scroll, letting out a long yawn. "Hello, Arslan. Good—" She glanced at something on the screen. "—evening, I suppose. I'm sorry about not being able to call yesterday. Something came up, and I unfortunately forgot. But let's hear what happened. Did everything go well with the meeting?"

"Well enough," I responded. "While Atlas and the General have not formally agreed to anything yet, they did concede the first point. Should we accept right now, we have the guarantee that the Arrow is ours and that we are our own sovereign group."

The old woman hummed, nodding her head. "That's already a lot more than I expected us to get. That is quite unusual… you didn't need to bargain with him just to secure that much?" I shook my head. Grauntie Carna furrowed her eyebrows. "That is unusual, indeed. That's something to stay watchful of. He must have some kind of lead if the General's confident enough to both push off the deal and give a concession. Either that or he's going to do something drastic. And if my past experiences don't lie, it's most likely the latter."

I nodded my head. "Maybe. There's something that he's hiding, that's for sure. The Headmaster did mention that Atlas was the Kingdom to watch for a reason, after all. However, there's a hint of earnesty in his words, similar to the simple soul I talked about earlier. It's not as pure, not as straightforward, but inside his heart is someone who believes in something simple."

"Simplicity isn't always the best trait to have in some cases," Grauntie Carna sighed. "A simple heart knows what it wants, but doesn't always get what it wants. And I don't believe for a moment that a general like him got himself up to that position through earnesty alone. There is a place for a simple soul, and it rarely holds under the burden of power."

"But I've seen that proven wrong." I brushed a lock of my hair back. "The simple soul was a Stand user like the rest of us. And through everything, I never saw that spirit be tarnished by power."

"Not now, I suppose. But what about later? If not the next day, what about the next week, or the next few years?" She shook her head. "The greatest weakness to purity is time. Nothing stays pure forever. Like a beautiful ring, hearts can eventually tarnish and lose its luster over time. Hearts can be warped as the ages pass by, even more so under the stresses of power. It's a lesson I've personally experienced."

She rubbed her eyes. "I shouldn't be rambling about this. I guess waking up this early is affecting me. We should return back to our original conversation." She stared at me right in the eyes. "Could his intention be pure? If you say it's so, then I'll take your word at face value. But intentions can be morphed bit by bit through the justifications they make to reach a goal. And I don't doubt that he might do something misguided and damaging, all in the name of a simple desire."

She sighed. "But at the end of the day, we did get more than we expected, and we also got a chance to negotiate with the rest of the Kingdoms at a later date. I would consider that a success in and of itself." Grauntie Carna nodded her head. "When are you going to meet up with with the Vale Headmaster and the Atlesian General?"

"As soon as the rest of the matches end for the day. My team's going up in the last match of the doubles matches, and I did promise them that I'll come to watch." I glanced at the time on the top of the scroll. "And from the looks of it, I might make it with an extra match to spare."

"I see. Well, enjoy yourself then, Arslan." The elderly woman let out a yawn. "Cheer on the rest of your team for me, would you? I'm going back to bed."

"Good night, Grauntie Carna," I said.

"Good night to you, Arslan." The screen went blank a moment later.

A sigh escaped my mouth as I slipped the scroll into my pockets and continued onward. I felt a pleased hum rumble through my throat. This is definitely something worth celebrating. This is a big part taken cared of. It might not exactly stop the attack itself, but knowing that it will help make the transition easier for Ruby and her friends when they get the Arrow back. Well, I can also help in the search for the White Fang, but a promise is still a promise. I glanced at all of the vendor stands to the sides of me, all filled with various kinds of food. Maybe I should buy them something to enjoy after the match. Now, what was that one treat Reese keeps buying that we like—

My eyes stopped on an unusual figure walking through the crowd. Unlike everyone around us in light, thin clothing, he was wearing a thick, baggy zip up sweatshirt and sunglasses. It's way too big for him, with the sleeves covering his hands. Two small elephant tusks jutted out of his face. I raised an eyebrow. That's strange… Why is he wearing sunglasses at night? That's not really normal… maybe he just likes how they look. No, but then there's his demeanor. He's seems, well, twitchy. His head kept twitching ever so slightly to any kind of movement, which in this crowd meant he twitched constantly.

I narrowed my eyes. Something's suspicious about him. A bad kind of suspicion. I moved toward him. "Hi, excuse me. I was looking for some recommendations—"

In an instant, he let out a yelp, falling to the floor. Out from under his sweatshirt appeared several wires. My eyes widened. "What in the world?"

"I've been compromised!" He got up and started running. He pressed against the side of his ear. "I'm moving to the alternate position! Get the birds ready for transport and send the bull running!"

"What the— get back here!" I started after him. The White Fang— they're making their move! I have to stop them!

**=TBC=**


	39. Last Breath - Part 2

My fingers tapped against the side of my seat as I let out a sound between a sigh and a whine. "Jaune, don't do this. This has to be a trap."

"I know, Ruby. I know." The boy sighed with me as he plopped down to my right. "This is absolutely crazy. I mean she finds my scroll number and calls me wanting to partner up. It's odd, especially considering we were fighting just yesterday." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But at the same time… I think she might be serious. Ciel has to know that she doesn't have much time left, just like us."

A hum escaped my mouth. "Maybe? I mean, one part of me wants to see what she has to say. On the other hand, it's risky. The Headmaster hasn't said anything about his talks with Atlas yet. Maybe she wants to make peace with you. But maybe the Headmaster and the General are still trying to make a deal. So who knows?" I played around with my thumbs. "I wouldn't go. Maybe you shouldn't do that either—" I gasped. "Oh my gods, but Weiss!"

My face paled. "Oh gods, I didn't think about her! She's still exploring the maintenance halls right now, right? I mean, we did tell her to be careful, but she doesn't know that Ciel is down there. What if Ciel tricks Weiss into activating her Stand?" I stood up. "We have to go!"

Jaune held a hand out. "Ruby, stay here. I can deal with Ciel myself. After all, I'm the one she wants."

"But… the two of us together can beat her," I started. "We can probably take her out before she can defeat us—"

"That's not necessary. You're better off staying here. It's more important that you keep watch over the stadium. After all, Ciel's going after me. As long as nobody else attracts her attention, I'll be the only target. And besides, I've defeated her once before. I can figure out a way to do it again." He gave me a small smile. "Don't worry. I'll be okay. Focus on the White Fang."

I gritted my teeth while tapping my foot against the ground. Is it a good idea? To leave Jaune? I balled my hand into a fist. We don't have any other choice, do we?

"Okay." I let out a long sigh, plopping back into my seat before looking at him. "Go ahead. Message me whether something is happening. I'll try to help you the best I can."

"It'll be fine," Jaune said as he turned around. "And I'll keep in touch. See ya later."

I nodded, watching him walk away from me. The moment he was out of sight, I pulled out my scroll and started texting.  _Weiss, Ciel is maintenance hall. B careful 4 her. Jaune coming 2 make deal w/ her. B rdy to hlp if Jaune attacked._  I sent the message. There. Now Weiss knows. I groaned as I slumped in my seat. Gods, I hope nothing goes wrong. We can't let the Kingdoms fight each other.

Oh man. Now that I think about it, it's day three out of four of the Vytal Festival tournament… The attack has to either be today or the only Stand user we've found at the moment is Ciel. No White Fang. Are they hidden that well? Maybe they won't bring in Stand users until the attack day. Or maybe they aren't going to attack Amity at all. But that White Fang user said there would be one! There must be an attack here. So why can't we find anything?

What could we be missing? It's just— I don't know! I closed my eyes and exhaled. There's something that we're not noticing, I just know it! But what could it be?

The slightest amount of movement in my rose petals caught my attention. Huh? What the— I focused harder. Rapid movement… like two people chasing after each other in the stadium concourses. But there's something off about it… It's not like kids playing a game of tag or anything. No, it's like a grown man being chased by a Huntsman…

My eyes shot right open to the sight of the shattered moon. I've never felt anything like this before. Could this be it? Is this their move? I shot up from my seat. I have to check it!

"Don't go away, everyone!" Professor— I mean Doctor Oobleck exclaimed from the speakers. "The next and final match of the day is going to be between team KATS from Mistral vs. team GRFN from Vacuo! We'll be right back after these messages." I stared at the empty stadium, then at the packed crowd as an advertisement for a sports drink came on the screen. I felt dread floated through the air. I can't transform into rose petals and float over to the exit, I can't use my Semblance until I've put myself back together…  _and_  I don't have time to waste. Gods, why did this have to happen right now?

"Excuse me." I started pushing past the seated crowd. I'm starting to think the attack's today. Right as we're having issues with Ciel and Atlas. Right when we're spread thin. I gritted my teeth as I waded through the crowd. There's nothing we can do but push through. I just hope that we can solve these problems before it's too late.

* * *

Yang furrowed her brow as she stared at the projection on the wall. The two of us sat on our dorm room. My scroll was plugged into the projector, showing the image I took from team CMEN's room yesterday.

She bit her lip before letting out a hum. "I don't know. I'm almost convinced that it doesn't have any meaning whatsoever." My partner shrugged. "I mean, it's a creepy image, sure. But I can't make the connection between this and the Cupid. It doesn't seem any different from those edgy doodles some kids draw in order to let out their angst. This one just happens to be very, very dedicated." She sighed. "Maybe it's nothing?"

I shook my head. "I refuse to believe that. There has to be something about this that connects the image to the Cupid. It can't possibly be a coincidence that the Cupid went to their dorm out of all of them." I shrugged my shoulders. "Look. Remember the talk from the Headmaster about the Cupid's attack patterns? How it would always attempt to strike one person with the Arrow before running away?"

My partner nodded her head. "Yeah. Ruby, Nolan, you, Weiss, that tapeworm, Russel, and Ciel. Each time the Cupid appeared, it was always aiming to hit another non-Stand user before running away."

"Well, this is the weird thing. The Cupid appeared in CMEN's room instead of the hallway. If it was following the pattern we established, it should've appeared on your side and tried to attack you. But it didn't. It tried to run away from CMEN's room. So why? Why would it come into their room when I'm already a Stand user? It doesn't make sense. There has to be a reason for it."

"Uh-huh." Yang threw up an eyebrow. "But why this image? Out of the hundreds of other pictures in that sketchbook, why is this one important?"

I shrugged. "I don't really know, I just had a hunch about it. Like I said, the rest of the pictures are portraits of disfigured people, landscape shots, what you would normally expect from a sketchbook. But this one—" I wagged my finger at it. "This one feels more… deliberate. Like the others simply want to capture something at the moment. This picture feels more abstract, more planned. Maybe it's the symbolism catching my attention, but this image definitely has something about it. If only I can figure out what…"

"Well, it's not too helpful if you ask me. " Yang yawned as she stretched her arms. "We already looked through this last night with the rest of team RWBY and Jaune, and all five of us couldn't understand what the picture. Why spend all of our time staring at this image when we could be searching for the Cupid?"

"And explore the sewers again?" Yang winced upon hearing that. "I think you've proven my point." I turned towards the projection yet again. "I have to be honest, we  _could_  be using this time to search for the Cupid in the sewers. But the sewers are pretty big. We're never going to find the Cupid down there with the time we have left. So why not spend it on some other clue that could potentially lead us to the Cupid faster?" I waggled my finger at the projection. "There's something bringing the Cupid to that room. And we need to figure out what exactly is that thing."

Yang let out a hum, thinking through my argument before nodding. "You're onto something there. It definitely beats wandering around in that nasty place without any idea of where we're going. But I still don't think you've thought this through enough. There's no way you can figure it out from just this picture. You should've taken a picture of the entire room or something. And plus, this is from CMEN. They might not be the best of friends, but they're still close to us. It could very much mean nothing."

Now it was my turn to hum in contemplation. Yang has a point. Maybe I made a mistake with only looking at one piece of evidence and hoping that it was enough. There's no way I could figure anything else from just this picture. I should've taken some more pictures. Maybe then we could figure something out then.

But does it really mean nothing? I focused on the image. Well, taking it at face value, the baby hand could be related to Grimm baby. But then again, as Yang said, it could mean nothing. The black liquid probably represents the Grimm. There's no other substance that shares the same inky-black color as Grimm ichor. And the people in the lower bulb are probably Remnans. But now it poses the question: why are the people covered in the Grimm fluid happy? You'd think that the people being swallowed by the Grimm would be scared as well. I mean, that's often how Grimm attacks end: the people get swallowed up in their negative emotions and die out. It's so strange seeing people happy. Is it like embracing death or something like that?

My eyes roamed towards the pattern on the top of the hourglass. Huh. I think I skipped over it the first time around. It's some kind of circular rune. It reminds me of the inside of a clock, if the gears and all of the mechanisms were organic. I tilted my head to the side. Now that I think about it, something about that rune looks familiar. Like I've seen it somewhere… I scratched my head. Where have I seen that rune?

"Uh, Blake?" Yang asked. "Are you okay?"

I ignored her, focusing on my train of thought. I don't think I saw it in some kind of book or movie or anything like that. Or at least I don't think I did. It's not a historical rune, either. I hummed. It's like I've seen it in team CMEN's room before… But that can't be possible. I'm pretty sure that the rune's only in the book— Wait a minute. Wasn't there a pair of gloves that had something rune-like as well? My eyes narrowed. There is… maybe…

"There's something I have to see," I announced all of a sudden, shooting up to my feet and snatching my scroll as I ran towards the door.

Yang let out a small yelp, scurrying to follow me out of the door and into the hallway. "What the— Wait, did you figure something out, Blake?"

"It's more of a hunch." I made a beeline towards the foreign exchange student's dorm area. "I just got an idea. It might work, it might not. But I think we might have found the missing puzzle piece."

The blonde started, "Well, okay. Could you fill me in on what your idea is?"

"You know how there's that engraving on top of the hourglass? I think I saw that symbol on something else inside that room. A pair of gloves, I think. Look, when you think about it, the picture has way too many allusions to our current situation. The baby hand is kinda similar to the Grimm baby. The black liquid covering the people is like the Grimm destroying the world. There's a rune that's actually on a real life item. Maybe if just one of these things appeared in the picture, then it would've been more of a coincidence. But all of them at once? There's no way that's a coincidence."

"You could be overthinking it," Yang suggested. "Isn't it confirmation bias or something to see just facts that you want to see?"

I gave her a shrug. "Maybe. This could just be me letting my imagination go way too far. But then again, that's not going to stop me from actually looking again and seeing if it's true. Maybe I'm wrong, it doesn't really matter. But if it did matter—"

We approached CMEN's dorm. "Then we can't just ignore it," I finished. Before she could say anything else, I took a deep breath, stuck my hand through the door and repeated what I did yesterday. My eyes started watering immediately after I stepped out. Wow, even with my eyes, it's pretty dark in here. The moonlight doesn't enter through the windows, leaving this place basically pitch black. Add that with the smell inside, and I swear this place can be the perfect torture chamber.

Alright, come on… I need to focus. I glanced around the room. I wonder if I can remember where the gloves were. If I remember correctly, it was on someone's bed. But that could easily change… if it isn't on the bed, or if the person moved it somewhere else or just wore it today, then me being here's absolutely useless. My lungs started burning from the lack of oxygen. Where are they?

Wait a minute… last time it was on the bed closest to the window, on my left. So that means it has to be… I glanced in that direction. Aha! There they are! I snatched them from under some kind of vest. My eyes narrowed. Huh… there's something… comforting about holding these. I don't know why, it just… does. I turned the gloves over. Yeah, these have the rune on it, or at least something really similar to them. I pulled out my scroll. Yeah, definitely the same one. And now that I think about it, wasn't the Cupid reaching for this yesterday? This has to mean something. What's so important about these gloves?

"This is it," I said as I crossed back into the hallway, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. Never again. For real this time. I held the gloves up to my partner. "I think there's something about these gloves that attracts the Cupid. These are the same runes as in the picture. And I remember the Cupid reaching for the gloves. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure this is how we can track the Cupid."

"Hmm… maybe. I'll admit, you might have a point when you say these gloves seem a bit suspicious. But how?" Yang took the gloves and held them up in the light. "Nothing looks different about these— Oh my gods!" She dropped them. "Holy— Blake! Those gloves— oh gods, I'm gonna be sick—" The girl started gagging.

"What?" I asked, picking up the gloves. "What is it?"

"Oh gods— the gloves—" She took a sharp breath. "There are veins and arteries below the surface. The gloves… it's flayed skin from a human being!"

My eyes widened. Oh my gods! I threw the intact skin away from us before wiping my hand against the carpet. That's— that's disgusting! Why in the living hell do team CMEN have gloves made of human skin? In fact, where and who did they get this from? Because— I shook my head. I can't believe it… They had something like this in Beacon all along… They're sick people! If we didn't have enough evidence before that something was off with team CMEN, I'd say owning the skin of human hands would definitely make that clear.

But at the same time… this was the thing the Cupid was reaching for. It's so different from what everybody normally sees the Cupid doing. So, maybe there's something about these gloves… Something about these hands that gets the Cupid's attention.

I reached for the gloves again. "Uh… Blake?" Yang let out a groan. "What are you doing?"

"Figuring out what's so important about these gloves," I responded, picking them up. "There's a reason why the Cupid wants these so bad, and I only know one way to figure that out." I lifted my hand up.

Yang paled at the sight. "Blake, you're not serious, right?" She let out a nervous laugh. "You're not going to… stick your hand in, right?"

I nodded, sliding one of the gloves over my right hand. A shiver slipped up my back. Oh gods, this feels so wrong. There's some kind of sleekness to it that just screams wrong. I feel like a disgusting person sliding this person's hand over my own. It's so wrong on so many levels—

The glove started pulsing. What the— I swallowed a gasp as the glove shrank over my hand, giving it rhythmic squeezes like heartbeats. Then it started getting… warm? Huh? This… this is weird. These gloves are alive somehow. How are they alive? There's no way Remnan skin could even do this sort of thing.

But for some reason, I feel like my hand is trying to pull me in a certain direction. Like it wants to drag me outside… What does this mean? Could this be the break we're looking for? Is this how we find the Cupid? I started for the exit. Yang followed closely behind.

* * *

I ran my fingers through my blonde hair, biting my lip as I traveled through the maintenance halls. There's no way this meeting could go well. As much as I want to believe that Ciel changed for the better, her last words to me yesterday still rang in my head. Did she really change? Is this meeting just a trap to catch me off guard again? Maybe. I just have to be careful with what I say. If I can do that, then she can't use her Stand ability to force me into her will.

At least it's only going to be me. One of my hands rested on the pommel of Crocea Mors. If Weiss or Ruby or any of the other Stand users got caught, it might become an absolute mess. I mean, now that Ciel knows about the White Fang attack happening soon, she's probably going to be more on edge with any Stand users that appear. Better that I'm being targeted by her than anyone else.

A sigh escaped my mouth, looking up. This part of the hallway definitely looks familiar. And I can see the door leading to the terrains across from here. I have to be close to the surveillance room.

But once I walk in, I have to prepare for the worst. I took a deep breath. I'm probably going to be put through some questioning. Ciel's probably going to try and capture me again. But all things considered, that's a lot better than somebody else getting caught by  **「** **LAST BREATH.** **」**

I stopped in front of the door next to the terrain storage area. But now it's time to face Ciel. I took one more deep breath. Here goes nothing, I guess.

The first thing I noticed walking in was the giant wall of screens that took up one entire wall. It had video footage of everything, from the fight going on in the stadium to footage of the screaming crowd in the stands to bored sellers watching the match on their scrolls while serving customers to the maintenance areas themselves. I felt my stomach churn when I made out Weiss walking through the corridors, eyes flickering around for any signs of danger. Didn't Ruby already send the message to her to get out? If Ciel was here the entire time, how did Weiss not get caught by her?

I turned away from the screen wall. Then there were several curved desks, each with four monitors. Swivel chairs were connected to the desk itself. Each desk was fairly close to each other, which didn't leave a lot of room to walk around. It didn't help that the room itself was fairly small. It just gives off this cramped feeling. How can people work in these conditions? Then again, nobody's here at the moment, so… I raised my eyebrow. Wait a minute… nobody? Where did they go?

"Over here, Jaune Arc." I glanced over at the voice. Ciel leaned against one of the walls. "It's a good thing that you decided to meet with me today. We have plenty of things to talk about, and it is serious. As for the staff that's supposed to be here, don't worry. The General decided to call them into his flagship for a 'special prompting.' They're not going to hear anything."

I honestly don't know if I'm supposed to be relieved or worried about this. She continued, "But now that you're here, let me get to the point. I'm here to make a deal with you."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "A deal with me? That's surprising. And what kind of deal would that be? Because the last time I've checked, you promised that the next time we meet, you would kill me for sure."

"Circumstances change. I made a statement that I realized in hindsight wasn't beneficial to the two of us. It's important that we focus our efforts on the White Fang and that they don't successfully commit an act of terrorism within the Amity Colosseum. The scope of the mission has changed, and therefore I will discard my previous statement." She pushed herself off the wall. "It's vital that we work together to stop the White Fang. So, I want to propose a deal."

Here it comes… Ciel adjusted her beret. "This is what I propose. In exchange for help to find the Arrow, I'll help with your assignment to search for the White Fang. When the Arrow is found, it will be in the possession of Atlas. That's all we ask for. My Kingdom isn't interested in anything else." She walked over to me, raising her hand. "Is that a fair deal?"

Is it? I closed my eyes and let out a hum. At first, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. I mean we are getting another Stand user to help us out with rooting out the White Fang. And her Stand ability would be useful if and when we find a member of the White Fang. She's definitely helpful to have, and it would be a good idea to bring her on board with the search.

However, it's what she's asking for that catches my attention. I know for a fact that Atlas wants to learn about the Arrow and what it could do. Giving them the Arrow helps them achieve those goals. But after they figure out what the Arrow can do, what will they do with it then? What about the people they might test the Arrow on? How would they be affected? What will Atlas do with their knowledge of Stands once they figure it out?

"I only have one question to ask," I started. "So if I remember correctly, you said before how Atlas just wants the Arrow for research purposes. And that by studying what Stands are and what they can do, we can make it less scary."

She nodded her head. "That's still true."

"Well, then I have to ask: what does Atlas plan to do with the Arrow once they find out how it works?" I rested one of my hands against the side of one of the desks. "I mean, we were planning on returning it to a Mistralian family who used to guard it a century ago. We're in contact with them right now, and I'm sure they won't be happy if they learn that we made a deal behind their back. So why should we trust Atlas with the Arrow?"

Ciel stood silent upon hearing the question. Oh boy. My hand ran over the desk, picking up a couple of stray paper clips. This isn't going to go well. After a moment, Ciel sighed. "I recognize that you don't trust the integrity of our Kingdom. And if I'm to be honest, you have every right to believe that. It's not too noticeable, but ever since we've arrived, we've been getting a lot of judging looks from the Valean population. From their perspective, we're effectively occupying the city of Vale. For the citizens, that image can be terrifying. So it's not a huge leap in logic to mistrust us when we ask for an item that gives anyone a tremendous amount of power."

The girl straightened her back. "But at the same time, Atlas has no intention of world domination. Like the rest of Remnant, all we want is to continue living our daily lives. And if learning about the Arrow and the Stands gives us the clear mind needed to live without worries, then that's what we'll do. Don't make any mistake, Jaune Arc. Atlas only wants to do this to guarantee the safety of the people."

I relaxed a bit hearing that. Maybe Ciel's telling the truth, after all? From the sounds of it, she and to an extent, Atlas only want the best for everyone. Maybe I shouldn't be so doubtful of her words. I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute…

My back straightened out as I stepped away from the desk and towards Ciel. "I'll agree, but only if you make one last promise to me with your Stand." I stared at her straight in the eyes. "Summon  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** right now. Promise me under it that Atlas won't ever try to use the Arrow after they're done researching it, and will return it to the Mistralian family I was talking about. I won't accept anything else."

That caused Ciel to pause. "All you want is an oath?" The feathered boa-constrictor appeared, curling around her arms and shoulders. "Alright then." She placed one hand on the snake and lifted the other up, palm facing me. "On my  **「** **LAST BREATH,** **」** I swear… I swear an oath that…" While her face remained neutral, the twitching of the muscles on her face showed a different story.

I've never understood how long certain Stand effects can last. For example, anything affected by my Stand starts reverting back to its original density once I call it back. Ruby can't even call back her Stand unless her body's completely together. But for a Stand involving a promise that needs to last beyond a day, can she maintain that promise even after she calls back  **「** **LAST BREATH?** **」** Or can she simply unsummon her Stand and resummon it to escape whatever condition she made? … But if it's the latter, then she can't do it without freeing me as well. Either way, I'm going to see if she was ever telling the truth.

"I—" At this point, Ciel's chest started heaving. She threw her hand down. "I can't make that promise. All I can guarantee is that the Arrow will go to Atlas for research immediately after this. Making any promise of what happens to it afterward would be disingenuous. I can't give the order to dispose of the Arrow, and I defer to the General for his decision."

"Hmm… I see." There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two of us. Glancing at one of the screens revealed that Weiss isn't in view of any of the cameras. Did she leave the corridors? I turned back towards Ciel. "So I guess this means that we can't make this work out?"

She shook her head. "It seems to be that way." Ciel pulled out her scroll and hit a button. A slamming noise behind me made me jerk up in surprise. What the— I turned around just in time to see the door lock with a solid click. "Jaune Arc, you are a surprise to me. You seem like a weak boy on the outside, but inside you're a power to be reckoned with, in both mind and spirit. Whereas I loathed you before, you now have my utmost respect. Shame it is then, that my orders are to make sure you don't speak about this should you refuse." She pulled out a sleek Atlesian pistol and cocked it.

"Ciel, you don't have to do this. You must understand that we don't have time left. We can't be fighting each other when the White Fang could be launching their attack at any moment!"

"I know. Why did you think I chose the surveillance room? Atlas has always been watching everyone's movements. I myself have been keeping a watch on everything ever since this morning. Did you think we weren't watching the colosseum, just hoping that nothing goes wrong? Reviewing the footage from the previous two days shows no suspected agents of the White Fang. And if someone appears, we'll be on it in an instant."

"Take for example a couple minutes ago. I saw a pair running down one of the concourses. One of them is suspected of having a bomb. We've already dispatched Atlesian soldiers to go after them. It won't take long before they're stopped." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that, Atlas has the situation under control. There's nothing to be scared of, Jaune Arc."

"That's not what I meant," I growled. "Like I said before, the White Fang has Stand users as well. People are going to die if they can't understand what they're being attacked by in the first place. We're the only ones able to stop other Stand users in the first place!"

"But we know every Stand user has a weakness. Their bodies aren't protected by Aura. We can limit the damage any Stand ability can create, evacuate the civilians, then send in several androids to fire at the user until they get overwhelmed. Because at the end of the day, Stand users can't fight against an army. They're civilians with powers."

"And if those powers can destroy cities?"

"I've never seen a power that went to such a level," Ciel shrugged before leveling the gun barrel at me. "There's no way that there's a Stand power of that magnitude. That's preposterous. So you have a choice. Join us, or let Atlas take care of it."

"No."

"Fine." I dove to the side hearing that, wincing as a bullet flew through my right sleeve. One of the desks covered me from her view moments later. I reached for my arm. Oh gods, everything went wrong. Everything went all so wrong.

Of course it would go wrong. I don't think there was any way anybody would be happy with whatever plan Ciel proposed. I looked in the palm of my hand. It held five stray paper clips.

It has to happen, does it? Whenever two Stand users meet, conflict will occur. What a sick twist of fate, especially considering it happened now. When we needed everyone to work together to stop the end of the world, we started fighting each other.

I shook my head. No use crying over this now. What's important now is that I get out of here as soon as possible. I took a couple of deep breaths. This is straight up a shootout. I don't think I'm going to get close enough to Ciel to hit her with my sword, at least not without getting shot. And it definitely wasn't fun last time during our school holiday. I shivered, instinctively reaching for where Ren's bullets had hit me. All I can do is shoot back. I drew Crocea Mors before placing it on the floor while my shield popped open. Let's go.

My body twisted as I jerked up, throwing my body behind the shield just in time to feel a couple of rounds pepper the metal. I winced in pain. Man, Atlesian weapons pack a punch! But she's still in her old position. A paper clip went flying in her direction, forcing her to duck behind a desk of her own.

Okay Jaune, think about the situation for just a second. I don't think I need to take her down. All I really need to do is get out and make sure she doesn't follow me. So I should go for the scroll. That's probably the key to everything. As long as I have that, then there won't be any issue.

I stood up, twisting my body so that my shield hid it from view. The shield grew in density by a tiny amount. Ciel's still not up. Okay, not bad so far. I'm going to have some problems protecting myself once I get close to her, but I should be safe from any attacks—

A sleek pistol appeared from the desk Ciel hid behind. Oh gods— I grunted as several shots raced across the room. Both the whizzes of bullets and flying debris of desks hit in the blind fire forced me to duck behind my trusty shield. She has to run out of bullets eventually, I can charge her the moment she has to reload.

Something slithered from the corner of my left eye. What the— I threw myself around, just in time to swat away the feathered snake Stand. It hissed when it slammed into the side of another desk, coiling itself before slithering on top of the desk maybe a meter to my left.

I felt a bead of sweat slide down my face. They're putting me in a sandwich. Metaphorically, of course; I hope to gods it's not literal. I adjusted myself so that my shield faced Ciel while my free hand faced  **「** **LAST BREATH.** **」** My eyes locked with the eyes of that snake. It did nothing besides bob its head back and forth. At the same time, my foot started feeling the ground. Where's my sword? It's gotta be here somewhere… My boot bumped into something, making it clatter against the concrete floor. Okay… I started lowering myself. Steady…

The Stand pounced right there and then. Oh gods! My shield flipped around as my legs collapsed, sending me collapsing to the ground. The sound of gunfire registered in my ears right as my shield smacked  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** down to the ground. My free hand slipped the paper clips into my other hand before wrapping their fingers around the leather handle of Crocea Mors.

Before the snake can recover from the shield blow, I lightened the density of my sword and ran my sword across its face. Behind me, I heard a grunt, followed by the ugly sounds of gushing blood.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** quickly slithered back onto its desk perch, its eyes shooting daggers at me. I pressed my back against another desk. "Ciel!" I yelled out. "You can stop this right now! Let me go, and let's put our differences aside for just this one moment!"

"I am a loyal soldier of Atlas. I fulfill my orders without any objections." Suddenly the desks started rising. My eyes widened as some of the desks all over the room floated up towards the ceiling, including the one with  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** on it. What in the world? How did she do that? There's no way she's lifting all of those using her Stand powers… right? Gods, I really hope that I didn't underestimate her abilities. If she can use telekinesis just like Professor Goodwitch— I swallowed. That would be bad. Very bad indeed—

Wait a minute. I narrowed my eyes. Are those… anti-gravity jets? My eyes widened. They are! These ones are a lot smaller than the ones on a Bullhead or on any kind of airship, but it's definitely something like that. Atlas managed to miniaturize these and put them under desks? So that explains why it seemed so cramped on the ground. They probably have each desk hover at different heights as people take their positions. It's an interesting idea, that's for sure.

But at the same time, that's not good for me. Ciel can change the entire room whenever she needs to. That means I can be exposed to gunfire or a Stand strike just whenever! As long as she has control over the machinery here, I'm going to have a hard time taking her down. And I don't have a lot of time to waste.

I flinched when the snake Stand leaped up and sailed through the air onto another desk, this time farther away from me. Maybe she can control the strength of the jets. But at the end of the day, it's only designed to consistently move a certain load…

It finally clicked in my head. That's it! I could make out the jets on the desk behind me growing louder. Without another doubt, I threw myself on top of it and decreased its density.

The desk shot up like a rocket, causing me to yelp as I clung on. Okay, too much! The desk immediately leveled off. Whew, didn't have a lot of control right there. I shouldn't change its density that quickly. But it's a start. I can control the elevation of the desks as well. Maybe my control isn't on the same level as Ciel, but I do have a bit of power. I'm not going to let her keep the high ground forever.

Ciel let out a gasp. I looked down to see the bloody-faced girl giving me a wide eyed look. While she had her gun pointed in my direction, her index finger was off the trigger. "Impossible… You shouldn't be able to do that! This— you shouldn't be controlling the thrust of the jets! Your Stand is incapable of doing that!"

"I'm not controlling the jets, Ciel. I'm changing the weight forced onto them." I pointed Crocea Mors at her. "It's over! I have the high ground! End this right now, and we still have a chance to hunt down the White Fang!"

"You underestimate my power, Jaune Arc." Her face returned to its neutral stoic pose. "My  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** isn't as weak as you think it is, and I still have control over the desks themselves." She held out the scroll, thumb being raised up to the screen.

I shook my head. "Don't try it, Ciel. This isn't going to end well for you. We're both better off if we stop fighting—"

The desk below me shut off its jets. Oh gods. The hands of gravity embraced me before yanking both the desk and me down to the ground. Nope! I threw myself onto another floating desk, pulling myself up, right as another torrent of bullets flew my way. One of them managed to pierce through my shoes, causing me to hiss in pain. I have to end this right now. This battle's been going on for way too long now. Ciel needs to be knocked out right now.

My body pulled itself close to the edge of this desk. I just need a clear shot of Ciel or her scroll. One clean hit with the paper clip: that's all I need to get out of here with everyone alive. If only I can get Ciel to move out of cover… But how am I going to do that?

I glanced at the area around Ciel. She's behind the desk closest to one side of the wall. The station she was hiding in started to float upwards, hiding her entire body from sight. I don't hear  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** moving in any way, but who knows when that could change. I wrinkled my forehead. And with the hole in my foot, I can't trust myself to move again without me messing up and falling to the ground, which could end with me dead. Shooting from my position is probably the best choice. But with so few paper clips, there's no way I can just fire until I hit her. I have to get it right in… I looked at the palm of my hand. Four shots.

There's no way I can get her out of cover. I can't shoot at her directly. Shooting through the desk is risky, and will probably kill Ciel. Too much power. My eyes roamed back towards the wall. For some reason, my trip to the arcade popped up in my mind. How the ball knocked the last bottle off from a bounce shot. An idea popped into my head. Hmm… that could work.

One paper clip flew through the air, nicking the edge of Ciel's cover and splintering it. I narrowed my eyes, focusing on any kind of movement. Anything? The silver barrel appeared a little left of my original location. Oh gods— I ducked back into cover just as several rounds flew over my head. Okay, I have the general area. She's right handed I think, so… aim a couple of inches right. Okay, I think I know where she is. I poked my hand out, lifting it a couple of inches up towards a wall. Here goes nothing.

All three paper clips whizzed through the air in rapid succession, passing over Ciel's head. She poked her head and arm out of cover before firing a volley of bullets of her own. They slammed against the desk below me, none of them coming even close to hitting me. I kept my eyes on the paper clips. Three clangs rang through the room as they bounced off the wall, followed by three smacking noises. The girl's head slammed into the edge of the desk before her body slumped over. Her scroll fell to the ground.

The sounds of jets shutting off registered in my ears as the desks started to float to the ground. I looked behind me.  **「** **LAST BREATH** **」** fanned its feathers out and tried to leap towards me before fading away. I jumped off the moment we made impact.

Is it… is it over? I walked over to her prone body. She's knocked out, alright. The paper clips clearly hit her torso, and she's going to have some bruising for sure. There's a bit of blood dripping out of her mouth, but that already was slowing up as her Aura enveloped her. A long sigh escaped my mouth. Yeah. The battle's over.

But we don't have time to stand around. I scooped up Ciel's scroll. I need to get back out. There's no telling how much time we have left before the White Fang start their attack. My thumbs started tapping on the screen. Okay, so how do I get to the controls to the door? It's gotta be here somewhere…

My finger slipped, sending me to the home screen. Oh boy. I can fix this. It should be pretty easy to get back to the controls… uh… I stared at the screen. That's weird, they don't have a button for application history? I mean it makes a little sense that things would be different. This is technically military property. But this also means it's going to be awhile until I figure out how to get out. I groaned. Oh, come on! All of this fighting, and I can't even get out of this room because of a misclick. Okay, time to start looking, I guess.

A folder caught my eye while I was scrolling. Huh? 'Info?' I wonder if they have some stuff about how to control all of the stuff in the Amity Colosseum. My eyes narrowed as I opened and scrolled through the content. No… not really. I'm not seeing any instructions whatsoever. However, there is some stuff about the Cupid, the Arrow, and Stands. General research on the Cupid, previous sightings of the Grimm that we provided, an in-progress Stand user list with only me in it, some kind of roadmap of where Stand users were allegedly sighted.

That one caught my attention in particular, and I opened it. There were the appearances during the past few months, which was expected. What I didn't expect were the occasional appearances even before that. There were some incidents in Mistral, which made some sense. But there was a series of incidents almost three decades ago, taking place in a small coastal village outside Vale by the name of Adonis. Funny: I think my dad and my uncles and aunts used to live there, back when they remembered it as the town of Mori— oh?

I glanced through the timeline/roadmap. Then after Adonis, there was maybe a couple of incidents on the continent of Sanus. And the furthest back I can go is— My eyes glanced at the furthest point on the timeline: the Great War. That's weird… there's a clickable link for this point. Why just this? Why weren't the others searchable as well? I hummed to myself. I mean, it could be that Atlas only had enough time to properly research this event. But what do they have on this?

One click brought me to some kind of folder, filled with what looked to be digitized letters, official reports, and so on. My eyes narrowed as I started reading. There's something about a scouting group coming back from a routine mission with mystical powers not related to Semblances. This was maybe a year before the Great War started, from the looks of it. The group was some of the first Knights, a task force dedicated to destroying Grimm-the precursor to Huntsmen. Okay… hmm, that's a little interesting. But what does that have to do with the Stands?

The series of reports quickly answered my question. Reports of the group standing around and doing nothing while a wave of Grimm was destroyed by an invisible source, a historian/archaeologist somehow predicting Grimm movements by running his hand against dirt, a soldier creating multiple versions of themselves before fighting the Grimm, stories of Beowolves merging with the ground, instantly killing them. Yeah, those seem like Stand abilities, alright.

More reports on these four individuals in the scouting group, focusing on less important aspects. I mainly skimmed over those. Then… information just dried up. A few years after the Great War, there was one report that stated that the team went out on a top secret mission. However, it's filled to the brim with redacted lines. I couldn't get any more information past that. No more mentions of Stand abilities or unusual happenings, not even a mention of the Arrow.

I furrowed my eyebrows. What could this mean? None of this makes any sense. Why would Atlas choose to collect this kind of data, especially when they don't have any mention of Stand Arrows or anything? What's so important about this particular scouting group? I continued to scroll through the files. Nothing worth paying attention to. Is that it? I felt my chest deflate. This is a bit disappointing. Atlas really must not have a firm idea of the situation if this is all of the information they managed to dig up. Well, there's not much lost there. I guess I can focus on looking for the controls now—

One of the files caught my eye. An image. I raised my eyebrow. I've never seen an image in this folder before. Maybe it can clarify some stuff? I pressed it.

A group shot appeared on the screen a moment later. On one of the corners was a watermark reading 'Obscura Studios' and handwriting stating: "Hawk Team before leaving for home; May 23, 933 AD." In the picture in question were four individuals, all huddled together and making really strange poses. My eyes widened in recognition. The gray-haired man… isn't that Headmaster Ozpin? Then there's the woman and bulky man next to him that I don't recognize. I guess they're his former teammates?

But what especially caught my eye was the blonde-haired man. His hair was messy and all over the place, with a patchy beard. The beard didn't hide the youth behind his blue eyes. I remember staring at this face when I was young. Well, he looked better on the family mantleplace, but I can still recognize my ancestor, Nicholas Arc. The first of the Arc hero lineage. The Headmaster served with him in the Great War? Why didn't my family mention that?

But the thing that caught my attention for sure was the Arrow bound around the woman's backpack. It might've been covered in a ton of cloth, but there's no mistaking the bound shape of the arrowhead. This is the same one the Cupid has. My jaw dropped. This raises so many questions in my head… just how far back does this go? And why did the Headmaster have the Arrow?

" **URGENT MESSAGE FROM GENERAL IRONWOOD,"** Ciel's scroll interrupted, causing me to nearly drop the device. Huh? I glanced at the alert flashing over the information.

"Uh…" I glanced at the machine. "Play message."

" **ACKNOWLEDGED. CONNECTING CALL."**

"All available Atlesian personnel, be on high alert. We have Bullheads with unknown signatures approaching the Amity Colosseum and Beacon Academy. Be ready to arrest the individuals inside, and if need be, blow them out of the air. Your orders, should the Bullheads land, are to prioritize the safety of all civilians and eliminate anyone who steps out of those ships. There can be no hesitation. Do whatever it takes to—" The mutters of someone else interrupted his speech. "What? The tracks from Mountain Glenn to Vale? Those were buried years ago, nothing should be moving—"

The man went silent for a moment. "Let me clarify my orders. All Atlesian personnel on the Amity, perform the orders given beforehand. Everyone else, relocate to Vale and prepare for an attack. Again, all personnel not on the Amity relocate to Vale and prepare—"

Rumbling sounds registered in my ears in the distance, akin to explosions. That was quickly followed by distant mechanical wails. My eyes widened. What the— What's going on? The General's tone grew tense. "All personnel not on the Amity, set up a boundary around breach areas. Repel any Grimm and minimize civilian casualties until the Huntsmen and the droids arrive!" A breach? What the— There's no way! They managed to breach the city?

I dropped Ciel's scroll and pulled out my own. Ruby's voice appeared in an instant. "Jaune?"

"The attack is happening now," I stated. "We were wrong. They're hitting both the city and Amity. I'm currently locked in with Ciel, you need to get Weiss and hold off the other users!"

A silence enveloped the both of us. "Okay," Ruby finally said, letting out a long hiss. "I hear you. I'm on my way."

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 7/6/2018**

**Arslan's Bizarre Adventure - Act 5**

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Hey, watch it!"

Cries like that and more erupted from the crowd as the White Fang member shoved past them, knocking them off of their balance. They didn't get the chance to stand up and recover as I plowed past them moments later. Several indigent grunts escaped from the crowd as they went tumbling towards the ground. I winced inside rushing through the crowd. I wish I could go back and apologize to all of them. But that can't happen. Doing so would mean losing the White Fang, and many more would die.

My eyes remained locked on the White Fang member running away from me, who must've been six meters away from me at this point. I won't let this guy get away. Too many people depend on me stopping this person. There's no way I'll let him trigger an incident that could very much cause the end the world.

"Somebody stop that man!" I yelled, managing to point a finger that the hooded Faunus swimming his way through the crowd. At this point, I could make out several Atlesian soldiers coming in. "Officers! Over there! He's going to—"

"Nobody touch me!" The man yanked out what looked like a detonator and held it high in the air. He continued pushing his way through. "I have a bomb! If I notice even the slightest attempt to stop me, I'll blow everyone up and send this place crashing into Vale! Now get out of the way!" The annoyed mutters morphed into screams of horror as the crowd thinned right in front of him, running out of his way before stampeding towards me and the other guards. The soldiers were swallowed up in the wave of people in an instant.

"Everyone, step to the side! I'm here to catch him!" I let out a grunt as the wave of people washed over me, all of them in a panic to get away from the suicide bomber. No! I stumbled back. "I'm a Huntress! I'm here to save your life! I need everyone to step aside!" Nothing I could say could calm the crowd down, slowing me down.

The man took a sharp right, running deeper into the stadium. He was gaining ground by the second. I'm going to lose him at this rate. My eyebrows furrowed. He's way too far away from me for an early strike…  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** appeared within the confines of my body, mimicking my every movement. With a 'hmph,' my Stand locked her bucklers onto her knuckles. This is a tough one… Wax would normally be my go-to strategy in stopping a chase. It's unfortunate though that there are so many people around me. It most likely wouldn't go so well if I threw wax into a crowd like this.

If only I can get within two meters of this person… Just two meters, then I could stop him in his tracks. Is there any other option? My eyes shifted around the area. No. There's little I can use in the area that can help me here. I don't think that there's anything else to do except try a certain Stand technique. It's a long shot, but I need to try.

I leaped up, allowing  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** to shove off the ground with her own foot and away from the retreating crowd. Moments later, I felt my chest yank forwards as I flew towards a nearby wall, my Stand dragging me with it. A gasp of surprise escaped my mouth. Oh my gods… I did it. This is it… this is the power of Stand jumping. I didn't think I would be able to use it properly, but here I am right now.

It's an advanced yet unusual technique, only semi-viable either after years of practicing with a Stand or with immense natural talent with one. In order to pull this off, a Stand user needs to understand how to balance Stand intangibility with Stand interaction and how instinctual protection works, both concepts hard to understand.

Then there's the Stand string theory. That is the hardest thing to grasp. Think of the Stand and the user as connected by an imaginary string. The Stand can move in space up to their limit forwards or backward. Should the 'string' get taut, the user can be pulled along as well.

However, the issue is maintaining a close distance between Stand and user. I felt my head pulse trying to keep my Stand within the confines of my body. Said 'string' isn't firm on its own. It's common for the user to fly ahead of the Stand with this move, often ending in injury. It takes absolute concentration to maintain the distance needed to perform Stand jumps consistently. Only a few users were ever able to use this technique competently, and even then only in short bursts. But when they could, it was like they can fly through the air.

As for me, I don't need to fly through the air.  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** caught the side of the wall right as I landed. A grunt escaped my mouth due to the impact. Almost immediately after that, it kicked off parallel to the structure so that we stayed near the wall. That single push brought me ever so closer towards the White Fang user. At this point, I would be neck and neck with the man. He's right in position for me to strike.

With one firm push off the wall, I flew through the air,  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** forming a wax ball in one hand as we both soared towards the fleeing man. Despite the man's threats, there's still a lot of people trying to run past him. However, that won't be a serious concern.

**「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** shot out, flinging the ball of wax into the man's still outstretched hand. The wax wrapped around the detonator and the White Fang member's upper arm, causing him to grunt and stumble for a moment. Just enough for me to bring  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」**  into range.

A fist shot out, slamming into the man's leg and sending him falling to the ground. I landed on the floor right after that, making an expert roll onto my feet before rushing towards the man. My Stand didn't waste any time, smashing his wax-covered arm and flattening it out along with the detonator. He screamed at the sight. That should stop him from activating the detonation sequence. No one's going to die here.

I stood over the man in the baggy sweatshirt. He turned to glance at my figure. His tusks quivered at the sight of me. I gave him a stoic stare. "Surrender," I stated, "And you'll suffer fewer consequences for your crimes."

"Go to hell!" The elephant Faunus lifted his unflattened arm up, revealing the barrel of a gun. A yell escaped from his mouth as his weapon barked several times.  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」** didn't even flinch, punching the bullets towards the ceiling with a roar. Bits of concrete pieces rained to the ground, causing me to wince as some of the tiny fragments land on my hair.

After eight or so shots, a dry  _click_ sounded from the gun. "You're out of bullets," I noted as  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」**  smacked the empty gun away. My Stand reached down a moment later, pulling his sunglasses off of his face to reveal scared yet defiant green eyes. The White Fang member stilled his body. "And the attack has failed. You're not going to kill anyone on this Colosseum tonight."

Then he did something I was not expecting at all: he smiled. "Oh? Who said I was supposed to do that? If that was my plan, I would've been at the packed stands with a bomb strapped to my chest. But I was nowhere close, was I?" I narrowed my eyes. Now that I think about it, he was walking towards the airships when I went after him. An evil look formed on the elephant Faunus' face. "Now you'll say, 'what were you doing, then?' Your move."

"What were you doing, then?" My eyes snapped wide. He just— He just called my words—

"Why don't you open my sweatshirt?" the man whispered. I did so, pulling the zipper down and throwing the jacket open. Huh? I'm staring at what looked to be jerry-rigged radio equipment. There was no bomb vest this entire time? The White Fang member was absolutely grinning now. "I'm just the messenger, the one who coordinates everybody to start the attack. The bomb? It was a bluff to divert attention. And you fell right for it."

I shook my head. "You're wrong. The fact that I have you right here says otherwise. I don't understand why you told me the White Fang's plan, but you won't be able to signal the others before us Huntsmen crack down on the others."

The man shook his head. "No, you're wrong, you naive child. You said you were going to stop me and the plan from happening. Did you seriously think I'd explain it if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I already set it into motion five minutes ago." My eyes widened. What?

At that moment, I heard the sounds of explosions coming from the city of Vale. My head shot back towards the airships in horror. The man laughed. "And now… now, the White Fang will finally bring justice to all us Faunus."

I ignored the man, knocking him out with  **「** **THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES** **」**  before standing up. The crowd around me had looks of absolute panic grow on their faces by the second. Oh my gods… Vale has been breached.

**=ARSLAN BA END=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Reference: Ciel Soleil's 「LAST BREATH」 is inspired first and foremost by the band Eyeshine's My Last Breath. It's an alternative indie rock song released in 2010. I chose this song because the lyrics remind me of a loyal soldier willing to throw their life away for the sake of their country, like Ciel in this case. Unwavering loyalty and dedication even when you are weak: that's the emotional tone I picked up from this song. It can also indirectly be a reference to Evanescence's My Last Breath, mainly because the song is inspired by 9/11, a terrorist attack not so different from the Battle of Beacon.


	40. Common People

"Everyone, please stay in your seats and remain calm as we analyze the situation," the PA stated as murmurs started to erupt from the crowd. Distant sirens wailed in the background, doing little to soothe everyone's nerves. My hands gripped my cape, staring at the video screen with horror as Professors Port and Oobleck fumbled with the microphone. The mustached man cleared his throat. "Huntsmen and the Atlesian military are looking into the situation and are working together to address it. Until then, remain calm. There's nothing to be worried about."

I know better. Jaune just told me. I let out a sharp sigh. I can't believe it… A part of me doesn't want to believe it. But I can't deny what they did. The Amity isn't the White Fang's target, or at least, not its main one. They've been focused on Vale.

Suddenly it clicked. The Dust Roman stole… that's where it all went. Not for the black market, or for normal crimes… it's all for this attack. Now it completely makes sense. Why did the White Fang disappear from the news, from the public eye? They must've spent all of that time setting up this attack under our noses. I slapped my cheek. How did we miss that? And Blake's research… oh my gods. We forgot all about that during the search for the Arrow! If we only found out sooner, or used the information we had…

No. I shook my head, gripping the scroll still in my hands. There's no time to feel bad. We have to act now. We might've failed to stop the attack, but we can still drive the attackers away and minimize the damage. I dialed my partner.

"Weiss?" I asked after her face flickered on the screen.

She frowned. "Ruby? Is everything okay? I heard some distant explosions and gunfire all the way from down here. And something tells me that it isn't just Nora's doing. What's going on?"

"Weiss, listen to me." I leaned into my scroll camera. "The White Fang have finally made their move. They've set off some explosives in the city, and from what I heard from Jaune, they have Bullheads carrying Stand users flying towards the Amity Colosseum. I have to protect the civilians and get them to safety, so you have to find and take down as many Stand users as you can. I'll be there to support you the moment everyone else is safe."

A bead of sweat slipped down her face. Weiss pressed her lips into a thin line, letting out a long hum before nodding. "Okay. I'll try to get out of the maintenance halls as soon as possible. What about Jaune? Is he going up?"

I shook my head. "Ciel managed to lock him into a room somewhere. He's doing everything he can to break out, but you're basically alone until then."

The girl grimaced. "That's… not good. If Jaune can't fight, that makes us the only Stand users who can fight back. I don't think us two are enough to push back the White Fang."

"Not quite. It's not just going to be us two." I glanced at the group of students standing around us. Nolan, Fox, and Gwen all turned their heads towards me. I couldn't find Arslan or Russel anywhere.

All three of them stood up the moment I made eye contact with them. In Nolan's sharp pink eyes, I saw fear dancing around. Gwen's brown eyes revealed indecision. And in Fox's pale, milky eyes… resignation. They were all hurt by the Arrow in one way or another, Nolan by my own hand. This isn't their fight… they don't have to do this.

But at the same time, I saw those emotions slowly get pushed out by determination. Each of them took on a pose, conviction taking over. They might've stayed back during the search to live normal lives, but they know just what's at stake here. And there's no doubt that at when we need it most, they won't hesitate to protect everyone in this stadium from other Stand users.

Seeing their teammates stand up, the rest of the student body started rising to their feet. Every team that I've met and even teams that I'd never come across all stood up, almost in solidarity. Oddly enough, I couldn't see Cinder and her team anywhere. But looking at the students here… well. It's still a lot of people.

Despite the doubt and terror running across their faces, their eyes all glowed with the same look of determination the rest of us Stand users have. Team JNPR… they all looked so worried, but they all kept their composure in face of it all. I let out a quiet sigh. Stand user or not, we're all here to protect Remnans from extinction. This is what we've been training for. I stared at this group and felt hope surge through my chest. We can do this. We can protect the Amity from the White Fang.

I looked back at Weiss on my scroll, a smile growing across my face. "Don't worry, Weiss. We have others that can help us. I know it's going to be hard, but I think we'll be okay. Just focus on holding off the White Fang. I'll come to you once all of the civilians are safe."

"Okay." The girl nodded her head, swallowing. "I'll see you soon." And with that, Weiss's call ended. Should I make a call to Blake and Yang? I looked at the crowd of students standing up. The rest of the Colosseum's inhabitants stopped muttering amongst each other, leaving behind only the sounds of sirens and gunfire ringing in the distance. Just a quick text will do. We need to rally together and move the civilians as soon as possible. I'm sure Blake and Yang have more time to think about their situation. I started typing out the message. But as for everyone on the Amity… we can't waste a second.

Right after hitting send, I stepped onto a nearby chair and cupped my hands around my mouth. "Hey, everyone!" The crowd of Huntsmen-in-Training turned their attention towards me. Oh, gods. I felt a sweat drop slip down my face. There are a lot more people than I expected. I pulled at my collar and waved. "Uh, hi! I got a call from the Headmasters, and they tell us that… that we need to get all of the civilians to a safe place!" I threw my hands out. "We need to make sure that none of the civilians get hurt while the adults are trying to figure out what's going on."

"Alright, hold up." One of the older students raised their hand up. "I get that it's smarter to get everyone off the Amity, but this isn't something we can't rush into. I don't know about you, but the event coordinators ordered us to stay here until further news. And I think that following those instructions is the best choice. So unless you got a good reason for us to move, I'm not moving."

Okay, this is already not going well. I silently pleaded with my fellow Stand users for help. They looked down in thought. Okay, uh… Oh! Camera, camera… My eyes quickly locked onto a nearby surveillance camera. I stared into it, mouthing 'help' to it as murmurs escaped the crowd of Huntsmen. Oh, please, please… Headmaster, if you can see me, please do something…

A chorus of chimes sounded off in our area, causing everyone to pull out their scrolls. "Well, by the gods," the same student murmured. "That's the Headmaster of Beacon right now." Huh? I pulled out my scroll as well.  _To all students,_ it read.  _If you are reading this, then the kingdom of Vale is under attack. While this attack is hard to take in, we as Huntsmen must fulfill our duty to protect all Remnants from any threat to the Kingdoms._

From there, a second message popped up.  _To the students in the Amity Colosseum, your number one priority is to escort all civilians to one of the designated landing pads and defend against any threats to their safety. The location of all designated pads are automatically being uploaded onto your respective scrolls. Several airbuses are already on station and ready to extract._

"So, we take them to one of the landing pads and get everyone off?" Yatsu mused, rubbing the base of his chin. He nodded his head as Coco stood up, hit something on her scroll, and started towards the arena. "Coco… what are you doing?"

"Getting ready to protect these people." She threw a grin before flinging herself over the rails. "After all, what are Huntsmen without their weapons?"

The entire crowd nodded, letting out mutters of agreement. It didn't take long for the crowd to start streaming down. A wave of Huntsmen-in-Training rushed to the arena as the dark skies were painted with streaks of colorful smoke. I followed suit, my hand hitting the button for Crescent Rose before throwing myself over the ledge.

All of the rocket lockers landed in the arena with a series of thumps, causing the entire stadium to become silent once more. All of us ignored the change in mood, focusing on grabbing our weapons and arming ourselves. I myself had to push through a couple of students before I could rip off the door to my rocket locker. Inside, seated above several filled gun magazines was my Crescent Rose. I wish I had the time to admire her and do all the proper checkups.

Instead, I snatched the weapon, loaded a fresh magazine, took several spare ones and pocketed them all. Sorry, Crescent Rose. No time for pampering like I usually do. We have a job to do. I glanced at the map the Headmaster sent us. From the looks of it, the stadium is divided into eight sections, each one with a landing pad for airships. We have roughly four Stand users who are here right now… well, this isn't ideal. I furrowed my brow. We're still going to need to spread ourselves thin. Two sections per Stand user is a lot… but we have no choice.

I turned towards the rest of the students. "So here's what we're going to do. We need to split into four groups. Each group is going to have to take care of two sections, which lead to two landing pads. The sections are labeled A-H. So we'll split ourselves up like that." I got on top of a rocket locker and kept in mind where all of the Stand users are. "Okay, so this group," I counted off everyone, including Nolan and his team, "you're responsible for sections A and B." I did the same with the rest of the students, putting Gwen 'in charge' of protecting C and D while Fox was placed in the group covering E and F. Which puts me in charge of defending sections G and H.

"If there are any signs of White Fang or Grimm attacking, call 'Ruby Rose' on the student directory. My Semblance allows me to transform into rose petals to go faster, so I can relay things to the other groups even if we lose scroll reception. We'll back each other up that way. Does that make sense to everyone?" I got nods of affirmation.

"Good," I said before turning towards the larger civilian crowd. I brought my hands to my mouth. "Everyone!" The entire stadium glanced in my direction.

I flinched back as all their eyes focused on me. Oh my gods… come on, not again… I just got over this! I took a deep breath. "We're going to start getting everybody off of the Colosseum! Just stay calm! We have Huntsmen who will escort you to airships based on what section you're in!" I glanced back at the rest of the students. "Go ahead."

They all nodded, moving to their assigned spots. The crowd started flowing as well, making their way towards the exits. I let out a sigh before turning towards my respective sections. Nolan, Gwen, Fox, Weiss. And every person that I've met and haven't met. Everyone… stay safe.

"Alright, guys." I glanced at the group of students I'll be working with, a group of roughly thirty or so people. "We'll start out by splitting this group in half to cover both sections. Remember to call me if you run into trouble." A blur high above the skies caught my attention. From the looks of it, Nevermores. They haven't made any attempt at dive-bombing us, and even if they did the shields above us should hold up. But I don't think that's a big comfort for any of the civilians here right now.

Speaking of which, the crowd's growing restless and agitated again. We need to get control of the situation now. My eyes flew over to the massive flow of civilians as we climbed over the railing once more. "Everyone!" I yelled. "Start making your way to one of the exits in an orderly fashion, and don't panic! We'll get you guys out of here before you know it!"

With that, all of the Huntsmen fanned out into the crowd. A few of them guided the crowd towards the exits. Others helped up the elderly and guided them out of the seats. A few of them kept their eyes on the sky, ready to act if the Nevermores took interest in the stadium. As for me, I made my way up to the exit in section G. I waved my hand at the crowd moments later. "I'll be guiding everyone here to the airships closest to this section! Follow me!"

I pulled out Crescent Rose, shifted it into its sniper rifle form, and started walking down the corridor. The first few minutes walking was filled with nothing but murmurs from the crowd behind me.

"Did you hear the rumbling coming from Vale?"

"Do you think there's an attack on the city?"

"Why else would they have Huntsmen-in-Training escorting us somewhere?"

I ignored all of those comments, keeping my eyes out for anyone we might come upon. By now some of the bulkier students made their way to the front, serving as a shield for anything coming our way. My mind started to wander a bit as we moved forwards. What kind of Stand users should I expect? It's such a broad question, I don't think there's a good way to answer it. Well… the corridors in the stadium tend to be narrow, so any ability that can take advantage of that should be expected…

My thoughts were interrupted moments later as something in the distance caught my eye. I squinted to see two figures laid on the ground a far distance away from us. From the looks of it, everybody else must've either ran into the arena or towards the landing pads. I frowned. We're going to need to hurry before the White Fang runs into those guys.

I have to take care of this first, though. The one pinned on the ground didn't make a single move as the one on top shook around. What in the world? I looked through the scope. Who's doing that— Wait a minute… I narrowed my eyes. Why does that outfit look familiar— My eyes shot open with surprise. Is that—

"Arslan!" The platinum blonde-haired girl turned to look at me as I ran over to her. "Oh my gods, it's great to see you."

She nodded her head, her eyes flickering back before they could meet mine. "And you too."

"Yup!" My eyes fell over to the unconscious elephant faunus lying on the ground. What the— what's with the wires on this person? Not to mention there's a flattened brick on this guy, and he was holding some kind of detonator… Is that a bomb strapped to their body? Wait a minute… could this be? I turned back to Arslan. "Arslan… don't tell me… is this?"

The girl swallowed before nodding. "Yes. From the looks of it, he's part of the White Fang. His job was to signal to the rest of the White Fang to start the attack. What you see here… this isn't a bomb. It's apparently wired for radio communication. Just in case, I disabled his detonator. I covered it in wax and stamped it. Even if he hit the button, nothing would happen."

"Oh, that's good," I sighed, wiping my brow. "I can't believe it… he was supposed to start the attack. I'm glad you stopped him, then. But Arslan, there must've been more than one of them, because the city of Vale just got bombed—"

"Ruby. You aren't listening. He did start the attack." The girl pushed herself into a seated position and took a sharp breath. "I failed. They called for the attack to commence, and I failed to stop them in time. The attack on Vale… that rests on my shoulders." My eyes widened. Wait, what?

The normally stoic woman hiccuped as she combed a lock of hair back. "There was a panic button on them that they hit before I started chasing them. They made the call to start the attack before we could stop them. And now…" She let out a drawn-out sigh. "Now the White Fang— the White Fang are—!"

Her words were interrupted with a hug from me. "Arslan, stop. Don't go around blaming yourself. No one could do anything about the panic button. From the sounds of it, we would've been attacked either way. No, what's more important is that you prevented so many people on this stadium from dying, assuming the stuff on him's an actual, working bomb." I turned to look at the crowd behind us. "These are all of the people you saved, Arslan. If you didn't intercept that guy, everyone here wouldn't be standing here right now."

"But— But—"

"But nothing." I let my face soften. "I wish this attack didn't happen, either. Every day, my heart aches with every mistake I made, of how many people were affected just by us existing. However, we can't think about that right now. We don't have time to mourn the people we lost. We have to make sure no one else mourns in our place. So, Arslan." I released her and offered her a hand. "Help me with this. Let's bring the rest of the civilians to safety."

Arslan took a sharp breath, wavering a bit before taking my hand. "Thank you, Ruby. I… I appreciate it."

"Great. Could you pull out your scroll for a moment?" She did, and I tapped my scroll onto hers, transferring all of the files. "We're trying to get all of the civilians off of the Amity as soon as possible. We're most likely going to run into some users in the process. So here's the plan. I've already split up the Huntsmen-in-Training into four groups, each group taking care of two sections. I also have one user in each group. Weiss is actively searching for users to intercept. Could you take care of this section for me? I'll get section H, and then we'll regroup to hunt down any White Fang Stand users here."

She nodded her head. "Alright then. Stay safe."

"I will." I turned to the crowd. "Everyone, follow this person! She'll take you to the airships! I'll check on section H!" Before anyone could say anything to me, I started pushing through the crowd. I grunted as the mass of people started to restrict my movement. Maybe I should've asked them to step aside or something… It would make this part so much easier…

As if they heard my thoughts, the crowd parted a bit, allowing me to rush through. A smile grew on my face. Thank you, everyone. Don't worry, we'll make sure everyone stays safe.

It didn't take long for me to exit the opening to G and enter section H. Well, especially considering how the entrances are right next to each other. But never mind about that. My mind left to wander a bit as I ran through the empty corridors. So Arslan  _was_  on the Amity Colosseum, I wonder if there are any other Stand users that I didn't see in the stadium. I narrowed my eyes. Maybe Russel? I'm not really sure. Didn't his team get eliminated earlier on in the day? I'm not sure if they would stay here to watch the other matches, but who knows? We might get lucky twice in a row.

The group walking this route appeared in front of me. Okay, this should be fine. I'll just go in front of the crowd, get a basic status report on what happened, and then help them lead the rest of the group to the landing pads—

I stopped in my tracks. Wait a minute… why isn't the crowd moving? I tried to piece something from all of the murmuring in the crowd, but I couldn't make out anything. What is going on?

"Hey," I whispered to one of the students in the back. "What's going on? Why isn't the crowd moving forward?"

"Oh! You're the one who spoke! But… beats me," the guy whispers back. "There are too many people in the way, and the guys in the front aren't communicating." He sighed. "It's kinda unnerving, to be honest. Maybe it's just my paranoia, but us being here must be dangerous. This would be a perfect time for someone to ambush us."

"No doubt." I pulled the slide on Crescent Rose back a bit. Normal Dust rounds. Did I remember to put in the subsonic rounds? Considering we're in close quarters, subsonic wouldn't be a bad idea right now. The last thing we need are civilians who get spooked by the sounds of gunfire. But okay, Ruby, focus on the situation at hand. Why would the group stop walking all of a sudden?

I don't think it's from a Stand ability, otherwise there would probably be more of a panic. I don't think there are regular White Fang fighters here, either. I would've heard louder gunshots and more panic. It's likely that somebody injured themselves during the walk, but I'm sure there would still be some movement if that were the case. People can continue to move forward even if somebody was hurt. I sighed. There's only one way to know for sure.

"Excuse me." I started pushing myself through the crowd, earning grunts and mutters of disapproval. "Sorry! Please step to the side for just a moment! Huntress, coming through!" This crowd was a lot less receptive of me, parting just a bit. Enough to make my journey a little easier, but not nearly enough to get me to the front with ease. And the constant complaints every time I moved past one of them— I let out a grunt of frustration. Keep calm, Ruby. If this is due to a Stand user, then you have to be calm. You cannot make a mistake because you got frustrated.

Finally, after what felt like forever, I managed to make it to the front of the crowd. "Whew!" I wiped the brow of my forehead. "That took me some time! Now, what's going… on…" My eyes widened as I looked at the sight in front of me. There's what looked like a squadron of Atlesian soldiers on the ground, all contorted in painful positions. Oh my gods… are they breathing? I ran over to the closest one, rolled him over, and yanked his helmet off.

A frozen face of shock and horror greeted me. "Oh gods!" I yelled, throwing the helmet to the side. There's no easy way to describe the disfigurement. Most of his skin was turning brown around several shallow channels, which tended to run in a wavy pattern up his face. I turned away from him when the smell kicked in. Oh— I gagged, plugging my nose and backing away. Ugh… this is— This is something, alright. I felt nothing but fear spike in my chest as I looked at the downed person in front of me.

There's no way. He couldn't be— I took a deep breath, holding it as I pressed the side of my ear against his chest. No heartbeat. This guy is long gone by now. I backed away in an instant and sighed. There's no doubt about it. This has to be the work of an enemy Stand, and someone who's on the Amity right now. But what could've caused this kind of disfigurement? What kind of ability would do this to someone through a thick helmet?

My eyes narrowed. This can't be good. I can't tell how long has it been since this attack happened, but I think it's safe to assume it's fairly recent. Which means the Stand user and/or the Stand is still relatively close. Knowing this, moving forward is a risky option. We're probably going to need to get the crowd to double back and go through section G while I clear out H.

With that plan in mind, I called Arslan. "Hey, just wondering," I started. "Did you run into anyone on your route?"

"No. Not a single person." The girl let out a confused sound. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to bring the section H group out and send them through G. We just ran into some dead Atlesian soldiers. They have weird scarring from… from who knows what. But I think I'm close to a user."

"Oh gods…" Arslan whispered. "I'll come over as soon as I can—"

"No, make sure everyone gets on an airship. I might be close to a user, but I don't know exactly where they are right now. They could be in your section as far as I know, and I didn't notice. We have to make sure the civilians are safe as well. Plus, whatever this scarring is, I can simply repair myself if it hurts me. Just make sure that everyone else is safe."

From the other side of the call, Arslan sighed. "Okay, then. Good luck with that."

After ending the call, I turned around to the nearest student. "I'm going to check out this area first. Alone. Message the Huntsmen in the back to start funneling the civilians towards section G. Everyone in the front, stay here and make sure nothing goes through. If I don't come back within five minutes, then just leave with the others."

One of the students straightened their backs. "Wouldn't it be best if you have at least one other person with you? I mean, what if the enemy decides to attack while you're exploring the corridor? What would you do then?"

A glint of light from a distance caught my attention. What in the world? I looked up and felt my jaw drop. Close to the ceiling floated what looked like a swarm of jellyfish. They all clumped up into a five-meter cloud, just floating around and doing nothing. But the worst thing of all… their head-things all had the face of a skull on it. They all glowed an eerie pale green. Jellyfish skulls… floating in the air. I have no words. That has to be the Stand. No way it could be anything else.

For now, the swarm was pretty far away, but who knows how long that might last. I turned back to the student. "You won't understand even if I tried to explain. But focus on the civilians. Don't worry about me, I'll handle it." They nodded, turning away and calling out orders to the rest of the group.

At that moment, the swarm started drifting in our direction. I swallowed. Now if only I knew how to back up my words.

* * *

My mind was reeling at the sight outside my office windows. It's not easy watching all of Vale in chaos, especially from where I can see everything. Gods, it's like the watchtower all over again. I gave my cane a tight squeeze. So this is her move… this was what she was planning the whole entire time…

I glanced back at the message sent to the students on the Amity Colosseum. By gods, I hope that they're able to get everyone off of there alive. But that's just a distraction. A move to spread Vale's resources thin, generate negativity for more Grimm to come in, and cause chaos in general. No, she's going for the user in Vale. The one who can get her out of her prison. I felt my fist clench. It's sad to admit, but I have to leave the Amity to Ms. Rose and the other users. I, on the other hand, have to make sure that witch doesn't escape.

A couple button presses later and Qrow appeared on my screen, wiping his face of sweat. "Qrow, give me a status report on the city and on the mission."

The man nodded. "Sure thing. To put it lightly, Vale's a mess. Huntsmen have been fighting White Fang raining from the skies and Grimm pouring out of several holes in the ground. My best guess is they somehow dug up the old Mountain Glenn train route, loaded a train full of explosives, and blew several holes in the heart of the city. We're trying to get to the breach closest to us. I can hear Atlesian soldiers fighting in the distance, but we're still neck deep in Grimm. We need more firepower. Where's that fancy android army James was crooning about?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'll get in touch with him as soon as possible about that. But what about the girl you found? Is she still with you?"

"Who, Winter? No, wait. Oh! You mean Amber!" He nodded. "We have confirmation. Wandering traveler who recently entered the city for the Vytal Festival. She has a teleportation power. And yeah, she's still here with us. She's currently helping out with fighting our way out, since she claimed that she had some level of combat training. And if you want my opinion on the matter, she's pretty good at handling Grimm." He let out a chuckle. "She's like a Dust wizard or something, considering how well she can use her Aura and that quarterstaff—"

"Thank you, Qrow." I let out a hum. "Ahh… I was going to tell you to get her into one of the Grimm-proofed buildings and hold off there, but I presume she's not going to comply?"

Qrow sighed, shaking his head. "So kind-hearted, yet so stubborn. She's not going to move an inch until all of Vale's safe. I mean, I'm not exactly complaining, but considering how important it is to keep her out of the enemy's grasp…"

"Right. That's more work on your end on making sure she isn't captured, but I'm certain that you'll make sure she doesn't." My eyes glanced at the giant cloud of aerial Grimm. "Again, I'll check in on James and see about getting some extra firepower to hold off the Grimm. As soon as the airspace is clear, I'll come in with a Bullhead and extract everyone. I trust that you can keep her safe until then."

"Right. See ya then, Ozpin."

The call ended. But there's no time to waste. I started another call with my fellow Headmaster. As I listened to each ring, I thought about why James hadn't sent down any androids. It's strange. Qrow's right in a sense. James takes a lot of pride in his choice to foster an automated army. Which makes it even stranger that he hasn't deployed it in a situation where we would need it the most. I rubbed the base of my chin. I know that he was having problems with the Black Queen Virus, but was it that big of a concern?

James popped up on the screen, rubbing his eyes in a lamp-lit room. He's clearly seen better days, considering his bloodshot eyes. Most likely from exhaustion. While the rest of him looked proper as usual, there's no doubt in my mind that he's at wit's end. He stared at me with horrified eyes. "Ozpin, make it quick. I can't guarantee the safety of this message." That got me to raise an eyebrow. Huh?

I sat up in my seat and brushed it off. "Evening, James. I'm sure that you've heard about the events going on down below." The man nodded his head, not saying a word. I continued: "We could really use the support of your Atlesian Knights. What's going on?"

"I wish I could help, but that's going to be a difficult task," the man sighed. "Only yesterday did we discover the extent of the Queen Virus. Well, it's less of a computer virus and more of a computer worm. No… It's actually a bit of both. Let me explain."

The man sat up. "I'm sure you're aware of the CCT attack a couple of months ago. The infiltrator managed to install the Queen 'virus' into the main building, but she never got the chance to run it before one of your students managed to drive her off. Because of that, we let down our guard. While it infected a noticeable amount of our computers, it wasn't an issue. Until we realized that it kept popping back up in places where we cleared it. And when we checked the code, we were shocked."

He rubbed his eyes. "This entire time we thought we managed to contain the malware, but we failed to notice that there was also a worm in the background. It exploited our local network and got into all of our systems without us noticing. I'll spare you the technical jargon, but there's good news and bad news. The good news: it only affects the local network Atlesian ships share. The rest of Vale does not have the malware. The bad news is that it infected everything within that network. Ship controls, communications, amenities, and the androids. We went completely analog except for this call and one more."

James let out a sigh. "I wish I could send in the Knights and the Paladins. I really do. But something tells me if we do that, the virus might activate and do who knows what with them, which would put so many lives at risk. I'm sorry, Ozpin, but I can't risk the androids turning on the people they were supposed to protect."

That's… not good. Not good at all. I rubbed the back of my neck. I mean, at least we're not going to be surprised by any androids turning against us, but at the same time, it doesn't really help when we need to contain the breach made by the White Fang. I let out a sigh. "Thank you for that. Considering your situation, do you want me to send a message to the rest of the Kingdoms, or—?"

The man held his hand up. "No need for that. I already sent a message to the other Headmasters about the situation as well as back home. They're mobilizing their Huntsmen right now, although I can't make any promises on how timely their arrival might be. I'm getting reports that the fear is starting to draw Grimm towards those Kingdoms as well. I'm getting varied estimates, but it might take about a week for my own Huntsmen to reach Vale."

An entire week? That's… not the worst, especially since James' trip from Atlas to Vale was roughly four days. Having a couple extra days to organize their local Huntsmen, debate how large of a force they can afford to send, and actually send the manpower normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. But I fear that if we lose this Amber girl, Vale wouldn't even have a week. We'll be wiped off the map before the reinforcements ever arrive, and the rest of Remnant will soon follow. I sighed. Let's just hope we don't need to make a last stand like that.

I nodded my head. "Thank you for that, James. I'll leave you to your task. Goodbye."

He returned the nod, ending the call quickly. The moment the screen disappeared, I shot out of my seat and pressed one of the buttons. "Glynda, prep a Bullhead for the city of Vale. We're going to need to make an emergency extraction of a certain individual, and we're going to need to do it now."

"What?" was the first word that came out from the PA. "Alright then, if that's what you need. What's the location?"

"Use Qrow's scroll location," I replied as I gathered my cane. "Have the Bullhead on standby as soon as it's ready. I'll be performing the extraction myself."

Glynda let out a hum of confusion. "Wouldn't it be easier to have someone else do it? You don't need to do something like that, especially since you're better suited to coordinating everyone on the ground—"

"They already received their orders, and I trust that they can get the job done. But this extraction needs a bit of my own personal touch. I have to be there." I transferred the call to my scroll as I slipped into the elevator. "Glynda, it is of utmost importance that I am there to bring her here. I won't have it any other way. By the way, where are you right now?"

"Alright…" I heard the sounds of hair passing over the microphone. " I'm already at the Bullhead, telling the pilot to start it up. But are you absolutely sure you want to do this extraction? I'm looking at the skies right now, and there's a swarm of Nevermores over the city. We're not getting near it without one or more of them coming after us."

"No worries, that's why you're joining me. We're going to clear the air before we perform the extraction." The elevator let out a ding as it reached the first floor. I walked out, twirling my cane as I made my way to the Beacon landing pads. "So you might want to ready yourself, because this is going to be a long night."

* * *

It's quiet. Too quiet. I narrowed my eyes as I walked through the empty vendor alley, Myrtenaster drawn and at the ready. This is… nerve-wracking, to say the least. If I remember correctly, Ruby and a few other Stand users are currently evacuating the civilians. But it's strange. I can't make out any murmurs or footsteps in this section at all. Shouldn't a giant group of people make at least a bit of noise, no matter how stealthy they were trying to be?

Maybe the group hasn't left the stadium yet. That could be a possibility. But there's still something about this atmosphere that unnerves me. It feels like I'm being watched; stalked by someone or something that wants to kill me. And although I know for a fact that there can't possibly be anything here, I just can't shake this… menacing feeling around me.

My instincts are to double back and make sure that the civilians are safe. Without a doubt, that would be the best choice to go with. Take as little risks as possible, especially when you don't know how big the invasion force is. We probably have at most ten users on the Amity, assuming all of the students are on the Amity right now and not counting the Headmaster. And knowing that that's likely not the case, with Blake in Beacon and Jaune stuck in a room with Ciel, I wouldn't be surprised if we only had half of that. Five Stand users, maybe, versus who knows how many? Without a doubt, we're in a pretty bad situation.

I tightened my grip on Myrtenaster. It's insane how much the situation has changed. From occasional skirmishes with people not even involved in the Arrow conspiracy to a full-blown White Fang attack on all of Vale. From almost nothing to everything happening at once. I can feel myself shaking. We never had control of this situation, did we? All of us were played like a fiddle, right into this mystery enemy's hands. And now… now we risk the fall of Vale and maybe civilization itself.

No. I gritted my teeth. There's no way we're going to let it end here. Maybe they managed to pull off their attack, but they still need to capture a certain individual in order to actually succeed. As far as we know, they haven't done that yet. So we've still got a chance to pull this off! The Headmaster already mentioned something about having a lead on who the important Stand user is, and how he's getting close to getting them to safety. As long as the Beacon Stand users can rout the invading White Fang and get the Arrow back, then we can make it a lot harder for the villains to actually succeed. We're in this to the end.

And in order to do that, I have to jump right into this without a single doubt in my mind. I started walking down that alley again. Whether the civilians are ahead of me or behind me, that doesn't matter. What matters is that this place is cleared of Stand users. Ruby said it herself: she'll take care of the people. My job is to deal with the danger. So I'll go, no matter the cost.

I felt my spirits soar, my stride picking up. This is it. It's been a long time since I felt this feeling. The feeling that helped me train, even with fairly weak Aura. The feeling that helped me destroy the Grimm Knight that scarred my face. A feeling that was challenged when Ruby became team leader. Now it came back to me: the feeling of conviction. It came back, filling my chest as I walked into what could potentially be fatal. But that doesn't matter. I'm here to stop the White Fang from destroying everything we know and love, no matter the cost.

As if my silent challenge has been noted, I picked up the sounds of whimpering. The point of Myrtenaster flew up, ready to jab at someone at a moment's notice. I looked around. Doesn't seem like anyone's here. And true, the sounds of whimpering were pretty soft. Either I'm farther away from the source than I thought I was, or there's a Stand user trying to trick me into dropping my guard. I scoffed. Like that's going to happen. I'll stay on my toes until I'm sure this place is safe, I assure you.

I took shorter strides this time around, glancing all over the alley to make sure nothing's going to catch me by surprise. Every step I took made the whimpers ever so slightly louder.. I furrowed my eyebrows. Assuming this isn't a trap just waiting to be sprung, the sounds can't be made by anything bigger than a small group. Doesn't really tell me whether the civilian group is ahead of me or behind me, but I might be able to learn something about this situation.

Oh gods. I stopped in my tracks. The section in front of me… why is it painted in blood? Splatters of blood dripped down the walls, still wet and fresh. The previously brightly colored stalls were all now colored crimson. Streaks of said blood contrasted greatly against the concrete floor I stood on. Strangely enough, I can't find any bodies lying around. But the whimpers— I can hear the despair in them. Like they can't put much energy into making a single sound anymore. That's what freaked me out the most. They've given up on living.

I spotted one of the guys whimpering, their head behind a stall. Not a drop of blood covered their body in any way. My gods, they're still alive! "Hello," I started, walking towards the person with haste. "I'm a Huntsmen. Is everything okay with you— Oh gods!"

My body recoiled in horror the moment I saw their face. Or more accurately, without their face. Their skin was completely ripped off, showing off the facial muscles underneath. I can see said muscles twitch with every little movement this person made. Their neck, it was like the diameter of a twig. Even if I wanted to, I can't move their body without snapping their fragile neck. From their body shape, I can tell they look like a guy, but that seemed off as well. For one thing, their hands looked way too big in comparison to their noodly, almost bone-like arms. Same thing with their feet. My eyes widened at how their toes broke through the tip of their boots.

Bulging exposed eyeballs turned to look at me. It took all of my willpower to not recoil at the sight. Now that I'm close up, I realized the sound wasn't just whimpering. It's raspy, choking, a desperate attempt to keep breathing. Similarly, the man's voice was just as raspy. "Hunt… Huntsmen? Turn… back… Chainsaw… man—"

"What?" I dropped next to him. "What chainsaw man? He did this to you, right?" I got the tiniest of nods. "But what about the other people? Did they get attacked as well?"

"People? … Chainsaw… attacked… vendors… Only human. Took… wife." I furrowed my eyebrows. If I'm hearing this correctly, the crowd from the stadium haven't passed through here yet. Okay, that's a good thing, at least. Still, only human vendors? I narrowed my eyes. This definitely has to do with the White Fang then, and one of the crazier members, if they're willing to rip off the face of this person. The person continued, "Please… save… Mari."

I nodded. "I will, don't worry about that. Hold still for a moment." I ran over to a nearby first-aid kit and pulled out a spray can of chitosan. Biomaterial used to quickly seal up wounds and prevent infection… I don't know how well it would work on a face, but it's either this or die horribly due to an infection. "I'll be spraying this on your face as a temporary cover until we can get you to a hospital to get a skin graft." I covered his eyes with my hand before applying the sealant. "I need a bit more information, though. How many people were here when they got attacked?"

The man's lips twitched as a thin sheen of biomaterial covered it. "Almost… every… vendor… here… Twenty? Chainsaw… took… more than… third? Rest… either cut down… or like me." That got me to raise my eyebrow. Wait, twenty? That can't be right. I would've noticed the bodies if that was the case. Unless this guy decided that hiding all of the bodies was a good idea…

I shook my head. that's not something I should worry about at the moment. What's most important is that I find and rescue the rest of the hostages that this… this chainsaw soldier took. I'm not really sure why he would take hostages in the first place, but there's no way it would be for good reasons. Is he planning on torturing them? Bringing them to a place where they'll be indoctrinated? I shook my head. Oh, come on Weiss. It can't possibly be like that. You're just letting your paranoia and previous prejudice take over. But still, in the heat of the moment… I can't help but think that.

"Okay, this should be enough," I sighed, removing my hand from his face. Most of his muscles were covered up now. I couldn't really create eyelids for the guy, but I can't really do much. Except… I grabbed a nearby towel, soaked it in some water, and draped it over his eyes. "This should help with keeping your eyes moist." I stood up. "Don't worry, sir. I'll get your wife."

"Thank… you…"

"Don't say anything else. Rest now." The sound of a single set of footsteps forced me back down into cover. What the— who's that? I peered around the corner. A muscular man walked in our direction from a fair distance away. Short hair, basic White Fang uniform. Oh gods, so they managed to land here… My eyebrows furrowed further. And from the looks of it, he might be tougher than I thought. At first glance, I didn't think he was that special. But as he got closer, I noticed small differences.

For one thing, he had a unique mask that covered his entire face. For another thing, tribal tattoos in the form of fanged killer whales swam up his arms, giving him a more… psychotic aura. Out of context, he looks like a serial killer from those freaky horror movies. And nothing completes that picture of a deranged man more than the bloody chainsaw he had in his right hand. The squeals that it made as it was dragged across the ground made me wince.

I swallowed. This… this is the chainsaw man, huh? Is he coming back around to find more victims? I thumbed Myrtenaster to yellow Dust. I won't let him. I just need to hit him with a perfectly aimed bolt of lightning, and he'll be on the ground. Electrical shocks still work through Aura, so I'll be able to stun him long enough to disable him. Yeah. I scooted myself back just a bit. Just let him pass by you, and then shoot him from behind with lightning Dust. I won't miss at all if that's the case.

Ten meters. My heart started pounding wildly as his footsteps got closer. Five meters. My index finger wavered at the trigger, waiting for the chance to strike. One meter. Get ready—

He stopped, forcing me to pause as well. What the— What's he doing? "Hmm…" his voice rumbled. "What's this?" He started sniffing the air. Huh? What in the world? What's he doing? Why is he sniffing the air? There's no way… can he smell me being here through his faunus trait? That can't be possible… wouldn't the mask block any advantage he would've had? I can't risk it. I'll shoot the bolt right now—

The White Fang stopped, letting out a growl. "That smell… it reeks of human hypocrisy." My eyes widened. Huh? He continued: "Not just any kind of human hypocrisy. It's the smell of a human who enslaves the Faunus." The sound of a chainsaw revving caused the blood in my face to drain away. "SCHNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

I threw myself out of cover at that very moment, squeezing the trigger. A zingy smell reached my nostrils as a bolt of lightning arced through the air, slamming into the man's chest and knocking him back. One roll later and I brandished Myrtenaster. This ends here! I jabbed him in the chest with my rapier several times, knocking him onto the floor. Before he could get up, I brought the point up to his neck. "Don't move if you value your life. You're not going to get away with this, terrorist! Where are the people you kidnapped?"

He let out a chuckle. "Kidnapped? What an ignorant human thing to say. I liberated my fellow Faunus from your race's filthy hands. None of us should have to deal with monsters." He snatched the tip of my weapon. "Especially the heiress of the SDC." I felt my stomach churn when I saw his whale tattoos twitch. Was that just me, or did this tattoos move for a second—

An inky killer whale erupted from his skin where a tattoo was, baring its sharp teeth at me. No… that can't be… One by one, each tattoo burst through his skin like it was the surface of the ocean. It's a Stand! My index tried pulling against the trigger. But the inky marine animals shot forwards, diving into the blade of Myrtenaster. Moments later, I felt the pommel grow bigger and heavier, swinging the point of the blade up and sending the next bolt of lightning towards the ceiling. My eyes widened. What?

The man was at me in an instant, throwing his leg out to sweep mine. That got me to back up instantly. I looked at Myrtenaster in shock. By now the blade shrunk by tenfold, and the pommel's as big as the Dust cylinder now! Is this the man's Stand ability?

I shot a glare at the towering man, who let out a vicious laugh as he pushed himself up with the help of his chainsaw. "Surprised? You should be. This is the moment where we Faunus return all the pain and misery your people put us through. And when I'm through with you, I want you to remember the name of the Faunus that judged you for your sins: Lieutenant Banesaw." He revved up the chainsaw once more, letting out a satisfied hum as it gnashed its teeth together. "And with my  **「** **SIX DAYS,** **」** I'm sure the weight of your sins will rip you apart."

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 7/20/2018**


	41. Six Days

Ever since the Cupid cut me way, way back in the forges, I've seen more scary stuff than any one person should ever see. From  **「** **BELFRY FALLS** **」** to  **「** **HOCUS POCUS,** **」**  I've seen so many terrible things happen to me, my friends, the populace, and other Stand users. At this point, you would think creatures that are scary to most people wouldn't be as frightening. I'd never think to be afraid of a swarm of jellyfish.

A drop of sweat slid down my forehead at the sight of the cloud of creatures floating towards us. Jellyfish… swimming in the air. I glanced down at the scarred bodies. Are these the things that caused the markings on those Atlesian soldiers we ran into earlier? If so, we're in trouble. Big trouble. I need to come up with a plan, and fast.

"Uh…" One of the Huntsmen-in-Training coughed into their hand, causing me to jerk up in surprise. "I'm sorry about interrupting your thoughts and all, but… what are you looking at, anyways?"

I blinked. "Huh?"

"You've been staring down that hallway for some time now," the girl explained. "And well… I don't see anything to be worried about."

"It's nothing." I waved the thought away. "I'm just… thinking about what I might face going down there." Well, I'm not wrong. I glanced back up at the jellyfish swarm. It's moving at a leisurely pace, giving us plenty of time for the others to escape. But if this swarm picks up or if we managed to get trapped… that would be worrisome. "How's progress on transferring the entire crowd to section G?"

"We're trying to get in contact with the guys in the back, but it's going to take some time before we can make some significant progress." She glanced back at the agitated crowd behind her. "After all," the Huntress started, "there's a lot of people in here with us."

"True, true. I guess we should tell them again." I turned to face the crowd. "Everyone! Like I said before, start moving back and start heading towards section G! Head towards the end of that section and wait next to the landing pads until somebody can load you into an airbus! But before you do so, I need to ask everybody something. Who here is familiar with types of jellyfish?"

Not a lot of people spoke up. I winced. Oh… I should've expected that, but still, I can feel my spirits deflate a bit. I took a deep breath. "Anyone? Please? It's going to be a real quick question, so if anybody knows—"

"Wait!" Somebody pushed their way through the crowd, a woman in her early twenties with tiny moose antlers. All eyes flew over to her. She let out an 'eep,' her body shaking to the sudden amount of attention. If I didn't know better, she was more deer than moose. Her light green eyes flickered down towards the ground the moment I made eye contact with her. "Uh… I know some things about them. But why do you need somebody who is familiar with jellyfish?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. "So you know something about jellyfish?" She bobbed her head from side to side for a bit, eyes glancing at the crowd before giving me a nod. I gave her my best smile. "Great! Come over here for a second." To the crowd, I raised my voice, "Everybody else, start moving towards section G! Do not come back here!"

As soon as I saw the crowd start to move back, I turned back towards the moose girl in question. "Don't worry, I won't keep you long. What's your name?"

"Uh… Boreas." She glanced away, scratching the side of her neck. "I know what you're going to say, it's a boy name, right?" I kept my mouth shut. It's like she read my mind. The girl shook her head, doing everything she could to hide the ever growing redness swallowing her face. "It's embarrassing how I got my name, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's okay," I responded. "We don't need to talk about your name. Let's go back to what I asked about. Just how much do you know about jellyfish? Do you know certain species or whatnot?"

She shook her head again. "Uh, not that much. I used to be a lifeguard at the beach near Derketo's Cove." She started playing with her short orange hair. "In the summer there would be a massive influx of jellyfish that would sweep in, making it more dangerous to swim there. I know how to handle those— well, more like me and my sister. She's more of an expert since she's working on her dissertation for marine biology and all that. But— but she couldn't come to watch the tournament, so I guess I have to do?"

Hmm… better than nothing, I guess. I gave her a nod. "That might be helpful, Boreas."

The girl flinched at that. "Please don't— I mean, can… can you call me Bori?"

I nodded. "Okay, Bori. So you see, these Atlesian soldiers have these scars and sting marks that remind me of jellyfish stings. Then I remember—" I glanced toward the slowly approaching swarm. "—I remember seeing a jellyfish. It broke down before I can grab it, but I still remember what it looked like. Can you check these guys out while I draw something?" With a loud gulp, she nodded, crawling towards one of the downed men and examined him while I snatched pen and paper from a nearby vendor.

Okay, okay… I just need to draw an okay version of the jellyfish approaching us. That's not too bad. A drop of sweat slipped down my face. Right? If my Stand could draw better than me, I would try that. But I'm pretty sure Rose would have just as terrible drawing skills as I do. I mean… give me any kind of weapon, and I can sketch it out to the last rivet. But the moment I have to draw something from nature… whoo boy. But it's not like I have a choice at this point.

With a sigh, I started sketching out an image of one of the jellyfish. Okay, so the head thing is like a box… then it has just a ton of the tentacles… I glanced up and shivered. Is it just me, or did the markings on that jellyfish look like a skull for just a moment? Better put that in, just in case.

Before long I held the completed image up before wincing. Oh my gods, this barely looks like the jellyfish in front of us. Really wish Cinder was here. She could probably do better. I really hope that this is enough… "Okay, so this isn't really good, but I think this was what the jellyfish looked like." I held out the piece of paper. "Can you figure out anything from the Atlesian soldiers?"

Bori shook her head. "All I can say is that they passed away quickly yet painfully." She took the sheet from me. "It's not easy to tell what kind of jellyfish caused this kind of sting, but there's something familiar about these kinds of stings—" Her eyes widened. "Is that the sea wasp?"

Huh? I raised my eyebrows. "The what now?"

"Chironex fleckeri. A type of box jellyfish. I remember seeing a ton of them washed up during my time lifeguarding. My sister likes studying them, said she's thinking about writing a dissertation on them. But if I remember her talks about this creature correctly, these are dangerous things. A tiny sting is like being branded by a hot iron. And if someone is exposed to enough of the toxin, they can suffer from cardiac arrest. I can't remember what the proper term was… but I remember she was thinking about trying to synthesize an antidote with some zinc compound or something…"

I nodded, brushing myself off before standing up. "Okay, I think I get it now. Thanks a lot, Bori. You should get out of here now. I'll search the area before coming with you."

"Okay," she whispered, all too happy to get away from the area. Her brow furrowed for a moment, but before I knew it, she merged back in with the crowd. Which left only me and the swarm. Bori really helped me out here. So letting my body touch any of the tentacles will cause my heart to stop, huh? Good thing I can localize any of the venom away from my body. I stepped forwards.

Just like that, the atmosphere around us… changed. It felt like every single jellyfish turned to stare at me. Before I could blink, their tentacles unfurrowed before the swarm shot at me at a surprising speed.

A shot of my Semblance shot me forward. I swung my arm up, calling on Rose right as it reached its apex. My hand detached from my body, flying up and away from me as it soared over the swarm. The rest of my body broke down shortly afterward. Every petal soared up, following the flying hand and escaping the grasp of the tentacles. I reformed myself instantly afterward, firing off a shot from Crescent Rose before landing with a roll. As if the swarm sensed my movements, it started moving towards me again. Perfect. As long as it's away from the main crowd. I started sprinting away from the swarm. Now, where can I find the Stand user?

* * *

Banesaw laughed at me, swinging his chainsaw to and fro as he sauntered towards me. I held out the misshapen Myrtenaster, which at this point was the size of a knife rather than a proper rapier. The whale tattoos kept swimming on the surface of Myrtenaster's pommel. The man let out a 'hmph.' "Do you feel it yet? The weight of your sins? A Schnee like you disgust me. Look at you!"

He gestured to me. "That sword, most likely commissioned on behalf of the Schnee family, bought with money made from exploiting Faunus miners. Your designer clothes, made in a sweatshop of Faunus workers. Your usage of Dust, likely obtained, again from Faunus miners who died painful deaths due to Dust lung. I've never seen the epitome of Faunus oppression stand in front of me. And worst of all, you have the audacity to say that you want to help the Faunus race. Like you think we can't help ourselves after your family screwed us over." He let out a snarl. "You are a disease, a plague on Faunus kind. I won't mind cleansing the world of your scent."

I kept my silence, letting him rant and talk my ear out as my mind raced. How do I counter **「** **SIX DAYS?** **」** In fact, what is its ability? It has to do with the whale tattoos, that's for sure. But what specifically about these whales warped Myrtenaster just like that? I glanced at my rapier. The pommel grew pretty big, but the blade shrank in size.

It reminded me of Jaune's Stand ability to change the density of anything he touches. But he doesn't have nearly the same amount of control as Banesaw. Jaune  _can_  play with mass and volume, but it's uniform across the entire object. And the moment he lets go, the object slowly starts reverting back to its original density. Banesaw, on the other hand, doesn't have that same limitation. The whales keep the shape of the item they changed, regardless of whether he's touching it or not. So now I have to ask myself, what's different about Banesaw's Stand ability compared to Jaune's?

Before I can do that, however… I popped the Dust cylinder out and removed the vials before tossing the weapon to the side. As regrettable as it is, there's no way I'm going to use Myrtenaster in its current state. Something tells me that  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** can swim between two objects, and I'd rather not risk dying immediately.

"Oh?" Banesaw stopped for a moment. "Hmm… Getting rid of your weapon… You pick up fast." He lowered his weapon for just a moment, before lifting it back up. "But what a foolish choice. Are you that eager to die by my blade? Then again, who I am to complain? If you want to die so much, I'm all too obliged to give it to you."

"Where are the rest of the vendors?" I asked, staring him down as I walked towards a nearby stool. It let out a sharp crack as I broke off one of its legs. "Where did you take them?"

"Away and safe from the rest of you humans. Where else?" I swear that I can hear a grin grow over Banesaw's covered face. He raised his chainsaw up as he stopped in front of me. "Why do you care? It's not like it's going to matter once I'm done with you."

"You'd be surprised at how hard it is to take me down."  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared in front of me at that instant, shooting forward and swinging its saber right at the man's torso.

"What the—" Before he could react,  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** slammed into his chest, slicing across it. He let out an anguished hiss as blood dripped down my Stand's blade. Yes! I stepped towards him. While it's not a perfect slice, I think I can slowly yet surely hurt him enough to defeat him. His arms started slacking as  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** pushed through centimeter by centimeter into his body. Just a little bit more… I can do it—

All of a sudden it stopped. Huh? A pearl-like glow started enveloping the wound. My eyes flew over to his arms. And his tattoos— they're back on his arms! He must've called back his Stand to tank the blow— Banesaw reared his chainsaw back and charged. Oh gods—

In an instant, a glyph expanded in front of me as  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** disappeared. With a single push, the platform launched me away right as the chainsaw came crashing down to the ground. I skidded to a halt.

This is going to be a lot harder than I thought it would. This guy has a surprising amount of experience. Has he been a Stand user for some time? No, there's no way. I would think that someone like that would be on the news more often. Being able to rip the faces off of people is something the media would have to notice. But to be able to do this much damage with so little experience… this guy has to be a psychopath or something to use his Stand in such a gruesome manner.

But I can't exactly worry about that right now. My eyes looked over the area around Banesaw. Every fiber of my being says I should run and look for the hostages. At the same time, that might leave the rest of these vendors at the mercy of Banesaw. He had been torturing them before, but who knows what would happen if I leave him alone? I need to take him down, and quickly. But how? If I go in with my traditional glyphs, I might be able to overwhelm him. But at the same time, I don't know how fast  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** is. I could lose a limb if I'm not careful. It might be the same problem if I use my Stand. Can  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」**  work on  **「** **I.D.I. TIME?** **」**  Honestly, I don't want to find out.

So my best option is to use my Stand ability and blow him up with a ton of Dust. A couple of days ago, I would have been bothered by that. But now… when so many lives are at stake… I can't exactly complain. This guy can and will kill me. And once he does that, who knows how many more people will die by his hand? My Stand materialized behind me, saber already drawn. Today won't be the day we find out.

For a moment, we stood silent, staring at each other. Once in awhile, one of us twitched, daring the other to charge forwards. When nothing happened, Banesaw started chuckling. "So, the Schnee happens to be one of the gifted. How… appropriate." He started moving towards me, chainsaw gnashing its teeth. "Is there anything you didn't take for yourself? I doubt that." He rolled his head. "I can see it in your eyes. Eyes of denial, eyes silently whispering empty words of understanding. You don't understand. You'll never understand us as long as you live."

"Maybe not. But I'm not going to stop trying."  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** zipped out at that moment, dragging its sword across the ground as it made a beeline for Banesaw.

The White Fang member let out a hmph, stretching his hand out. " **「** **SIX DAYS,** **」** " he muttered. In a blink of an eye, the killer whale tattoos swam into his hand and burst out of his palm, their tiny pointy teeth bared and ready to sink into the sword of my Stand. I smiled. Got you. I pinched a tiny amount of fire Dust powder between my index finger and my thumb right as  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** disappeared, its blade never making contact with the man. A thin layer of red Dust grew where my Stand had dragged its sword, culminating with a red and white Dust crystal.

Banesaw let out a 'hmph' of confusion. "What the—"

A single snap ignited the Dust between my fingers, sending the tiniest of fireballs towards the line of Dust. The entire trail ignited with a roar, the spark zipping toward Banesaw at breakneck speeds. I didn't have time to watch the effects.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** reappeared, slashing a crescent line in front of me. Out shot a wall of stability Dust, just big enough to cover me. "SCHNEE!" the man roared. I ignored him, covering my ears the moment my Stand faded out.

My eardrums shook and quivered when the crystal went off, sending jolts of pain into my head. Agh! I pressed against the sides of my head even harder. Ow… Still hurts… The ground rocked below me. I can feel myself losing balance—

A wave of fire spewed past the crystal Dust shield in front of me, forcing me into a ball. The tips of my hair felt like they were burning just being close to the flames. Sweat dripped down my entire body. Now that I think about it, I've never been conscious through one of my explosions before. Just how long does this explosion last?

Before long, the fires were replaced with a cloud of concrete smoke. I stood up, letting out a cough as I waved my hand over my face. Ugh… That was maybe a little less strong than the explosion I made during the simulation. Still, my ears are still roaring with pain. The ringing came back, but I could already feel my Aura healing my eardrums up. But that's not important. Was that attack enough to take Banesaw down? And more importantly, did it do its job without killing anyone else?

I stood up, letting out a couple more coughs as I leaned over to look around the side of the wall—

Only to meet close up with a swinging chainsaw. A scream escaped my mouth as its teeth clawed across my face, gnashing at my eyelids. The only thing keeping me from losing my sight was the flare of Aura right above my face. Moments later, I felt myself soar through the air. The clawing stopped. I opened my eyes, watching the charred body of the giant grow smaller and smaller as the distance between us grew. Huh—

I slammed into a nearby vendor with a 'clang' and bounced off. Ooh, ow… I took a sharp breath. My Aura feels so weak… that's not good. I stumbled back onto my feet, using the chair leg to push myself upright. One attack like that managed to cleave through a ton of Aura… I can't afford to take another one.

I stared at his sooty but otherwise unharmed body. How? How did he make it through that explosion? There's no way… He should be severely hurt from that. It could be Aura… But even if he managed to call back his Stand, a Dust explosion that close should be enough to rip off a major chunk of his Aura. I should at least be seeing the signs of Aura stress, like what happened when I managed to get a hit in with  **「** **I.D.I. TIME.** **」** But nothing.

Maybe it has something to do with his Stand ability? Hmm… Maybe what he did to stop the explosion is a hint to how  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** works. I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the soot-covered man. But what could it reveal? Without any kind of context, him getting out unscathed could mean anything.

But let's think about it for a moment. I need to look at everything he's done so far. First things first, he managed to survive the explosion. Presumably without Aura. That doesn't tell me a lot, so I'll put it to the side for now. Then there's all of the face ripping that he's done to all of the human vendors here. There's no way he managed to do that with the chainsaw. It would probably rip off chunks of flesh along with the skin. Nobody would live from the strain of that. But not only did we have survivors, but their facial muscles are relatively intact. So that has to be due to his Stand ability.

Then there's the thing he did to Myrtenaster… That should be the most telling thing, but I can't put a finger on it. His killer whale tattoos swim into the surface of an item and then… it warps. No, but the strange thing is how it warps. The blade of my rapier shrank, while the pommel grew. Initially, I thought his Stand worked a bit like Jaune's  **「** **EVERYDAY BOY** **」** in how it changes the amount of matter an object has. That's how Jaune could shrink and grow whatever kind of thing he grabbed. But that's not how  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** work. For some reason, it doesn't want to violate the law of conservation of mass. He's not creating new matter, that's for sure. It started clicking in my brain. His ability  _can't_  violate the law of conservation of mass…

The image of the mutilated vendors appeared back in my mind. They were breathing weird because their necks were thin. In comparison, their hands and feet were ginormous, not following basic anatomy at all. It follows that conservation. So if he used his Stand ability to rip off everyone's face, what if… what if he adjusted the mass of the person so that their skin was too heavy to stay on their face? If he can do that, then it would make sense how only skin fell off—

Everything clicked right then and there. My eyes widened. Oh my gods. He's not increasing or decreasing the amount of matter in a certain area. He's moving matter within an object. There's no better way to explain it. Being able to move matter through the killer whales explains why everyone looked all mutilated and misshapen, as well as what he did to Myrtenaster. It also explains how he managed to escape the Dust explosion relatively unscathed. He must've transferred  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** into the crystal and shifted the Dust concentration towards me. There's no doubt that matter manipulation is his Stand ability!

But just knowing that doesn't exactly solve the problem I'm facing right now. I swallowed as Banesaw walked around the Dust wall I made earlier, chainsaw still turning and growling. Okay, I know exactly how his Stand works now. That's one step towards beating him. Still, it's not nearly enough. Knowing his Stand ability now only poses more questions. Just what is the extent of his abilities? Can he transfer matter between two objects using the killer whales? How extreme is the warping?

My eyes flickered towards the stall Mari's husband laid behind. Once Banesaw turns his Stand off, is it possible for everyone to revert back to their original shape? Well… not immediately. I just learned that. So I have to defeat him. But that brings me back to my original problem. If it's almost impossible to hurt the user, how can I hurt  **「** **SIX DAYS?** **」**

I need to get to somewhere safe first. There's no point in me trying to concoct a winning strategy if I die before I can pull it off. Can I hide? Maybe I can try to take advantage of a distraction. Let's go with distraction.  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** shot out of me, doing a wide sweep in front of me before striking the tip of my chair leg with a flourish. Around me, an extremely thin layer of ice Dust formed on the floor we stood on. I kept my sights right on Banesaw and the area around him as I made out a crude fire Dust point crystallizing on the wooden plank.

Banesaw tilted his head, letting out a chuckle. "Do you really think a stake made out of fire Dust can stop me?"

"What else?" With a yell, I swung down at the ground with all of my might. Steam shot out from the ground the moment my Dust stake made contact with the floor. I held my breath and started towards a stall behind him.

A growl escaped from the murderous Faunus. "Coward… Coward! SCHNEE!" He revved the chainsaw yet again. "You think you'll be able to escape from me, but you're mistaken! I will find you, and I will kill you! Nothing will stop me!" He started sniffing the air around him. "Where are you?"

I held in a sigh. The steam ever so slightly changes the smell of the area around us… he's not going to smell me even if I'm close to him. Okay, but back to the plan… What can I do to actually hurt the Stand? I mean, they're technically ink drawings that have come to life. That's… kinda like Blake's Stand, now that I think about it. But from my experience, nobody's been able to touch her while she's merged into a wall. We had to wait for her to pop out before we could do anything.

My hand moved to rest against the stall I hid behind, grabbing what felt to be a cardboard box. What can we do… if none of us could even touch Blake, how am I going to stop Banesaw's Stand? There has to be something that I'm missing… I leaned a bit more onto the box. Think, think… I do have a vial of gravity Dust in my possession right now. Maybe if I could isolate the Stand— no, Banesaw himself from any kind of surface, then he can't do anything with his Stand, giving me the perfect chance to attack him with explosions. Although I don't think I can hold him in the air for long with only one vial… maybe my Stand can create more—

The box at that moment collapsed, crackling under my weight. Wait, what the— I jerked my hand away. It wasn't filled up? Who in the world leaves unfilled boxes underneath their stall— The man stopped, letting out a low rumble.

Oh gods… uh— I don't exactly have time to think about it anymore, do I? The Dust saber in the hand of **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** swung out, creating a decent sized chunk of gravity Dust on what I thought was a serving tray. I pinched a bit more fire Dust powder between my fingers as I placed my foot on the tray. The moment he moves, I move. I can feel the tension in the air as the both of us waited for the other to strike. Come on… I know that you want to attack me. I tossed my improvised stake to the side.

"I found you!" As if spurred by his words, the chainsaw let out a screech as he moved towards me. "I'll make sure that you'll pay—"

Before he could continue with that train of thought, I kicked the gravity Dust tray in the direction of his voice before throwing myself out into the open. The giant of a man was maybe five meters away from me. My Stand disappeared from sight. That should be enough. I snapped another firebolt at the tray.

The moment the fire struck, the gravity Dust crystal activated with an eerie purple glow. Already I can feel the crystal starting to pull me in. Gravity Dust: gives off slightly different effects depending on whether or not it's trying to absorb heat or release it. It's not a coincidence that happens to correlate with whether it attracts or repels objects. A glyph formed between the tray and me, stopping me from being pulled toward it. I think that's enough Dust to bring him in while not bringing him towards the crystal in question.

And just like I thought, Banesaw started floating in the air. "What the— What is this?" he roared. His limbs flailed in the air, not that it would help him in any way. "This will not do! I won't be held by this amount of gravity Dust!"

"I don't think you have a choice." Several glyphs formed around the floating White Fang member. "It ends here. Tell me where the hostages are right now."

"Never!"

A tsk escaped my mouth as I pulled out all of the Dust vials I had in my pockets. "Okay then." The room became a blur as I shot towards Banesaw. However, instead of striking him directly, I flicked a bit of Dust at him. Flames ignited his clothes. Then I landed on another glyph and did it again, this time with ice Dust. Then again with wind Dust. I bounced around glyph to glyph, throwing a bit of Dust at him with every pass. His hisses of pain said everything. There's no doubt that he switched back to Aura after my first attack. But if I stay mobile and keep throwing Dust at him, there's nothing he can do but take it.

So I kept going, conserving as much of my energy as possible while I chipped away at him. Bit by bit I could make out the familiar pearl-colored glow surround him. I'm close… His Aura's getting close to breaking! Just a little more and he'll have to surrender!

"Banesaw!" I yelled, landing and stopping on one of my glyphs. I glanced at the empty vials in my hand. That's the last of my lightning Dust used up. I lifted my fingers open. The fire and wind Dust are also used up. That just leaves the vial of gravity Dust I never used. That and maybe one last pinch of ice Dust. I think the ice Dust alone might be enough to push him over the brink and break his Aura. I turned my head to meet his eyes. "You're done! Surrender!"

"No! I won't surrender to any human, let alone a Schnee!" Strangely enough, he revved down his chainsaw and ripped a small part of his internal shirt. "The only time I surrender is when I'm killed in cold blood!" The Aura around him disappeared. "And besides, it's mighty arrogant of you to think that you've won."

With a chuckle, he threw the scrap of cloth at me. Normally I would expect a piece of cloth to flutter in the air before being sucked into the gravitational field. Except this piece of cloth grew thinner and thinner until it became a needle. It soared through the air, solid like any item. My eyes widened. What the—

Before I could do anything, the needle-like fabric jabbed into my hand. Ow! I released the vial of gravity Dust. Wait, what the— oh gods, no!  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** shot out from me, arm outstretched towards the Dust. He swung his chainsaw at my Stand in response. My eyes widened again. On the teeth of the weapon were the heads of several killer whales. I grimaced, recalling the frontier-esque Stand before Banesaw could hit it. Instead, he slashed through the vial. A shockwave flew through the air, pulling Banesaw towards the tray.

Darn it… I need to get away from here right now. I just need to create another glyph to stand on… Already he snatched the tray from the air. The moment his hands made contact with the crystal, it started inflating, becoming more of a sphere rather than an actual crystal. That got me to narrow my eyes. What in the world? Why is he making it bigger? Wait… is it just me, or is the crystal hollowing out? I swallowed. Oh gods, it is hollowing out—

With a ferocious roar, the man threw the crystal on the ground, shattering it in an instant. Gravity snatched me again, and with a firm tug, the force dragged me to the ground. I felt my breath get knocked out of me with the landing. Ooh… ow, it hurts… but I have to get up. My hand pressed against the ground as I pushed myself up to my knees. Banesaw could attack any minute now… And I'm not going to be on the ground when he does. I can't let  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** touch me… there's no one else to protect these people—

My eyes widened when at that moment, I saw several killer whales on the surface of the ground swimming towards me. Oh gods— I started scrambling up to my feet. Come on, gotta get up—

One of the trays came flying, smacking me in the face. While it didn't hurt too much, it did surprise me enough to knock me back to the ground. What? Where did— My eyes flickered up to see Banesaw standing up himself. "Let me tell you one thing, Schnee. Do us all a favor and stay down!"

At that moment, I felt it. I looked down to see the killer whales of **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** start to swim from the ground to my right arm. I shivered. Oh gods, it felt like something was wiggling under my skin. So it's over, just like that?  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** is just going to make it into my body, where it can wreak havoc. This is the end of the line for me, isn't it?

No… I furrowed my eyebrows. Never in a million years! I didn't come this far to die now! I'm going to stop Banesaw and protect the people of Vale! I tightened my grip on the vial of ice Dust in my left hand. A crazy thought popped into my head. Surfaces…  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** can swim on surfaces, so what if…?

I slammed the vial of ice Dust on the back of my hand, right after my wrist. A block of ice encased my hand in a snap. I winced and shivered as numbness took over. Oh gods, it's so cold… and I can't move my fingers at all. With the amount of ice Dust I used at once, this probably killed all the cells in that hand. But it definitely paid off. As the block of ice encased my hand,  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** got dragged away from my body, instead being dragged up to the surface of the ice. I can't exactly tell, but the Stand's not warping my body outright. It looks good so far… there's only one way to see if this truly works now.

**「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** appeared behind me and swung the blunt end of the saber onto the ice chunk. And just like that, the block shattered, freeing my hand from its grasp. For once I get to have a smug grin of my own as the little killer whales contorted in pain, visible cracks on their forms. Banesaw, in turn, had several cuts slice through his body, causing him to double over as the red liquid flooded out of his wounds. That's a satisfying sight to see. My smile dropped a moment later. I let out a shiver as I started rubbing the already numb body part. Ooh… ow. Encasing my body in ice didn't feel good. Heh… I'm not as much of an ice queen as people think I am.

But the fact that I finally managed to hurt Banesaw made my spirits soar. I finally figured out his weaknesses. One: his Stand is completely surface level, which means that  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** would have to swim on any surface blocking them in order to get to their intended target. As long as I don't expose any of my skin, then I will be fine. Then there's the key to hurting him: I need to destroy the surface the killer sharks are on. Any damage to the image will hurt Banesaw as well. I need to somehow take Banesaw by surprise.

That's easier said than done. He has to be aware that my strategy relies on that. From the corner of my eye, I saw him lift up his mask a tad to spit out blood. He might be a brute, but he's a wily person, no doubt. So he's not going to let me try that again. Not that I would or can try encasing myself in ice again. So that's off of the table. And he can call back his Stand at any time, so pulling off any kind of trick is going to take a lot of preparation this time around.

Hmm… I pressed my hand against my chin. There has to be something I can try… Maybe I could take something flimsy like a plank of wood, quickly hollow it out and inject it with Dust, then trick him into grabbing it. I set it off when  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** crawls onto the object, and that should take Banesaw out. It would be a great idea if only I can figure out just how I would do that without Banesaw noticing or suspecting something. I have to get him to react impulsively, and that's going to be a lot harder than I think. Just how do I do that—

Before I could think a bit more on that point, Banesaw slipped his mask back on and let out a growl. "No more! I'm getting tired of this!" He revved up the chainsaw yet again. "Just die!"

He charged towards me. Oh gods, that isn't good. Or maybe it is… Besides  **「** **SIX DAYS,** **」** the biggest thing I have to worry about when dealing with Banesaw is the chainsaw. So, if I manage to break the chainsaw, he will be forced to use his Stand, which means more opportunities to end the fight!

If only I knew just how to break it… What can I try? In fact, how do you break a chainsaw? My mind rushed as I jumped to the side, narrowly dodging a swing from him. I rolled over and picked up the abandoned chair leg, cracked but not yet fractured. Well… normal chainsaws are meant to cut wood and trees. However, it wouldn't be that surprising if the one Banesaw is using happened to be modified a bit. As a personal weapon, the chainsaw is probably able to cleave through flesh and metal. So I can't exactly slam something hard on it and hope the chain breaks in the process…

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. My Stand appeared in front of me, drawing its saber, swinging it around with a fancy flourish before leveling it at the charging White Fang member. I have to agree, Banesaw. We'll end this here. I slid my feet apart, and with a deep breath yelled, " **「** **I.D.I. TIME!** **」** " The frontier-esque Stand nodded, shooting off, saber raised up. Seeing this, the giant of a Faunus raised his chainsaw, forming miniature killer sharks on the teeth of his weapon. I narrowed my eyes. This is it. This is where we face off. Honestly, I would lose if I wanted to go head on.

Good thing that's not what I'm doing. The chainsaw dropped towards my Stand's head. And the second that happened,  **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** jerked to the right, slashing across Banesaw's body and grazing the edge of his weapon before rushing past him. Some blood started soaking into Banesaw's gray uniform as he stumbled to a stop. He let out a pained hiss. I gasped as well when I felt my left shoulder shrink and the respective forearm grow. **「** **I.D.I. TIME** **」** disappeared soon afterward, leaving just the two of us standing. I brushed the affected arm. I don't think I can use that anymore…

"Tsk." Banesaw's Aura started glowing again before he continued forward. "You missed. I might be at a disadvantage due to the nature of my Stand, but don't think that you've turned the tide just because you can move faster than me. I've already taken away your strong arm away. It won't take long to eviscerate you."

For once, a smile crawled over my face. "I think not."

He let out another growl. "Why, you!" Banesaw yanked the pull cord, only for a clattering sound to sound out followed by the squeal of warped metal and explosions. "What?" He looked down and growled. The chainsaw was smoking. Its engine whined and squealed, refusing to move another inch. Close to the tip of the chainsaw, the chain was snapped in two. On each end of the broken chain were inch long fire Dust crystals.

"Now you don't have any weapon to hurt me with," I said as I tried picking up a nearby plank of wood. My eyebrows narrowed. It's a lot harder when my strong arm is anatomically different. I continued: "I've said this before and now I'll say it again: where are the Faunus you've captured?"

"Screw you." He threw the broken chainsaw aside. Wait a minute… since when did his Aura stop glowing? He pointed a finger at me. " **「** **SIX DAYS!** **」** "

What the— In an instant, several killer sharks sprang from the floor into the plank of wood. All of them bared their teeth at me as they swam towards my hand. Banesaw gave me a venomous stare. "I have to admit, for as much hate I have in my heart for the Schnee name, I can't help but admire your wiliness. You share traits with a rat. A pest and a plague on society, but there's no doubt that the Schnee intelligence is the reason why they're still a problem. And just like you would with, you have to trick them into thinking they've won. And you've fallen into my trap."

"Oh, really?" I let out a huff, glancing at the fire and explosive Dust mixture underneath the plank exterior. "I would say the same thing for you. You've fallen into my trap."

I slammed the plank of wood into the ground, causing it to erupt in flames. The killer whales of  **「** **SIX DAYS** **」** let out melodic yet haunting wails as the wood cover disintegrated and the flames of the explosion consumed them all. Likewise, Banesaw roared in pain, dropping any pretense of control as he waved his arms around, trying to put out a fire that wasn't on his body. It took way too long for him to drop to the floor, writhing in pain. Oh gods… I winced. He took one last gasp, reaching towards me in pure agony before going limp.

Is… is he gone? I walked over him and pressed two fingers against his neck. There's barely a pulse, but it's there. He's not going to die, but he's not going to hurt anyone anytime soon.

Whew. Finally. I felt my knees sink to the floor. It's over. We're okay. I lifted up my left arm. Already I can see my arm start shifting back to its original shape. Oh gods, that's good. At least that means that we can get the people hurt here to a hospital without worrying about snapping their necks or something. Although I don't exactly know what to do about the people with their faces missing—

"Gray!" I turned my head at the sound of a feminine voice. A faunus woman with a small, furry striped tail ran towards me with maybe five or six other faunus. She flinched at the sight of me, stopping for a moment. "Oh gods, Schnee." She raised her hands up in the air, gesturing to others to follow suit. It's so strange, watching them raise their arms in surrender as if I could kill them at any time. "Please don't hurt us. I don't mean any trouble. I'm not White Fang, none of us are. We managed to escape from where one of the White Fang members took us and we just—" Her voice cracked. "We just want to get back our loved ones. You have to believe us, please."

"Are you looking for your husband?" She nodded her head furiously. I pointed a finger at her. "You must be Mari, then. Right?" She nodded again. I let out a relieved sigh. "Gods, you came just in time. You don't need to worry. I'm not going to take you in. Your husband should still be behind one of the stalls, I'll take you to him. Does anyone have rope by any chance?" I gestured towards the unconscious Banesaw. "I managed to knock out the person responsible for this, and we need to tie him up before he regains consciousness." I turned over to Mari. "Follow me."

It didn't take long for us to get to Gray's body. He's looking a lot better now. His entire body looks proportionate again, and he's breathing just fine. However, there was still the film of chitosan that was still on his skin. "Gray?" Mari stumbled over to the man. His eyes flickered over to the woman in question. Tears started rolling out from Mari's eyes. "Oh my gods, you're still okay." She pulled him up and brought his head to her chest. "I thought I lost you."

"I thought so, too." The man returned the woman's hug. "I thought I would never see you again. But I— I can't believe we're both alive." Gray started making choking noises as he started tearing up as well. "Thank gods you're still alive."

As I watched the both of them share a tearful reunion, I took in a deep breath and looked at the ceiling. We did it. We stopped another Stand user. And… I'm so tired… Just knowing that there are likely more in the Colosseum scares me. And who knows how many more are out there, ready to take on the mantle of destroying the Kingdoms. I let out a sharp breath. We can't let the enemies gain any more ground. I hope Ruby and the others are doing a decent job at keeping the other Stand users here at bay. My mind turned towards the other half of RWBY. Blake… Yang… Hurry up.

* * *

"Blake!" my partner yelled as we charged down Beacon Academy. Yang grunted, firing off a cloud of buckshot into a nearby Beowolf and sending it tumbling to the ground without missing a step. "Where are the gloves taking you now?"

"Um…" I clenched my fists. For some reason, my fists were nudging me to the right. I glanced up. There's a split path a couple meters in front of us. "Right! Make a right!"

We both made a sharp turn before continuing onwards. Yang narrowed her eyebrows, letting out a hiss at the sight of Boarbatusks in the distance. "Gods, what is up with all of these Grimm? I know that there were several explosions that tore Vale a new one. But there's still no way that there would be this many Grimm on campus! What gives?"

"It must be the fairgrounds," I gasped. "The people are still on the edge of the Beacon Cliffs. Considering that the people there saw what happened from over a cliffside, there should be a wave of negativity coming from them. But it makes no sense. That shouldn't be possible, considering the school's good about clearing the cliffs of Grimm." I gritted my teeth. "But knowing that the White Fang are the ones behind this… I can't believe they decided to go with that plan."

"Huh? What plan?"

"Grimm drops. In my final days there, there was a suggestion to capture various types of Grimm and drop them into populated areas." I held out a hand before Yang could open her mouth. "No, I didn't approve of it one bit. It was originally proposed to be a temporary distraction to buy time for operatives sneaking in, but the danger of capturing and carrying Grimm to a certain area just to be used as a distraction made the idea not worth it. Most of the senior members, including me thought it was suicidal. To think Adam was crazy enough to actually try it…" I shook my head. "What kind of madness is this? Using Grimm all for the sake of hurting others… What a spiteful man."

"... Well then." Yang let out a long sigh. "Geez, it's as crazy of a plan as it sounds. Granted, it doesn't look like it worked that well, anyways. These particular ones are wandering aimlessly. Either the crowd either thinned out or the Huntsmen already got them to safety. Plus, these Grimm are pretty easy to handle. I guess he can only put so much into the Bullheads." She rolled her shoulders. "But let's get back to Cupid searching. Are you getting any kind of signs that we're getting close?"

I shook my head. These gloves are so weird. There's no realistic way to explain what these things are exactly. Not Dust, not a Semblance. I want to go on a limb and say it's a Stand somehow, but… it doesn't feel like that. It doesn't feel like a manifestation of someone's Aura. It… it feels like an actual part of someone. But nothing's making any sense. What made these things so special? Why in the world does Cinder own these things, and where did she get them from?

Before I could think through any of these question, I felt my hands grow almost burning hot. I stopped, Yang following shortly afterward. Floating in front of us on top of one of the streetlights was the Grimm we were looking for. Just... scratching its buttocks. The Cupid turned and stared at us, cocking its head as it waved the Arrow in its hands.

We shared what felt like the longest staring contest ever. It's right in front of us. What should I do? Pull out my weapon? Summon my Stand? Move around to more effectively trap the monster? There's so many options and so little time to decide—

" _Mama."_  I jerked back. What was that? Mama? I looked up at the Cupid again. This time it had a toothy smile that was made creepy instead of cute with how it bared its sharp fangs at us. But for some reason… the Cupid looked genuinely happy to see me. It waved its arms at me.  _"Mama!"_

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 8/3/2018**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand Reference: Banesaw's 「SIX DAYS」 is inspired by DJ Shadow's Six Days. Six Days is a dance/electronic/downtempo song released back in 2002. Special thing to note: this is technically a remix. The lyrics are actually sampled from Colonel Bagshot's Six Day War. I chose this name because of its reference to the historical Six Day War and the general futility of war born from race hatred.


	42. Free Bird

* * *

Crescent Rose shifted in my hands once more, bringing my baby into her sniper rifle form. With a flick of the wrist, the used magazine dropped into my outstretched hand. I chambered a new round. The swarm shifted yet again at that moment, twirling around before a cluster of jellyfish shaped like a tentacle tried to swipe at me. Another cluster formed a thin wall right behind the tentacles in an attempt to keep me trapped. Yet another tried to speed towards me, trying to get me from behind.

Instead of the loud, explosive bang you would expect from regular ammunition, Crescent Rose let out almost a quiet hiss. Moments later, the jellyfish wall burst open, pushing away enough of the creatures to create a hole the size of a fist. I racked my weapon and broke myself down, allowing the tentacle to swipe through me. Without a blink, I reformed and sped forwards, my Semblance kicking in just before the ambush cluster got me. I ducked and weaved, jumped and shot myself around, dancing my way through the path of the flailing tentacle and feeling every swing get closer and closer and the bullet hole I made growing smaller and smaller by the second.

But before the tentacle could make contact, I flung my pinky through the hole yet again, breaking myself down and passing through just in the nick of time. Crescent Rose's thorn popped out and flew forwards with another bang, sending the crowd of jellyfish flying away from me. The moment I rebuilt myself, I took off running, my eyes flickering at the wavy glows of the jellyfish around me. All that effort, for two meters.

I leapt behind a nearby vendor stall, my breathing absolutely ragged and a dull headache forming at this point. Oh gods… That took a lot out of me… Are the jellyfish still following? I looked back from where I came. The biggest cluster of the swarm was a fair distance away, glowing in that ominous pale green color. With how slow it was moving, it wasn't that big of a concern. But the jellyfish were a lot more packed than before, forming a more effective wall. And that means that I can't run away from the situation I put myself into this time.

Okay, I have to admit. I was way more confident than I should've been. I thought that what I saw coming towards the crowd was all of the jellyfish we had to deal with. But turns out, the size of the swarm was a lot bigger than I initially thought. All over the walls and ceiling were box jellyfish. Floating in random parts of the air were clusters of the creatures. I'm honestly nervous to open any of these stalls. With the amount of jellyfish floating around, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few that could pop out and surprise me. As Yang would probably say: these box jellyfish have boxed me in. I cringed. Just thinking about the pun makes me want to groan.

My stomach churned. I mean, there is a silver lining to all this. With the jellyfish all focused on me, everyone else back there should be safe. I don't need to worry about anybody else getting hurt.

But still… this maze of jellyfish is insanity. I leaned back into the stall. Just navigating through this one hallway is hard on the eyes. Jellyfish break away from the walls and float towards me, only to float back. The clusters form moving obstacles, which force me to constantly switch between Rose, my Semblance, and Dust rounds just to move forwards. The sheer amount of jellyfish creates an almost hazy look all around me, making it even harder to tell what they are doing. And worst of all, I have no idea how big this maze is and where I could possibly find the Stand user.

Seriously. Anyone could be the Stand user, and I won't know who it is. They could be an animal or an object, for crying out loud! Whoever the user is, they could be hiding anywhere, from somewhere in this hallway to the landing pad or maybe even part of the crowd I just left behind!

I squeezed my eyes shut. I have absolutely no leads on who to look for in the first place, and the barricade of jellyfish approaching me has me on a time limit. I'm lucky that I haven't messed up yet. But with the amount of effort I have to go through just to gain another meter? It's only a matter of time before I start slipping, and I start getting stung. I think I can make it through a couple stings, but if I get surrounded? If I make one really bad move? The chances of making it out alive are almost impossible.

A sigh escaped my mouth. Well, I shouldn't be spending my time in hiding. If I get trapped while I think all this through, then it's not going to matter in the end. And besides, there's the crowd of people I still have to worry about. While I think the jellyfish are automatic Stands, the fact that they chose to follow me instead of the much bigger crowd means that there has to be some manual control over the swarm. I need to deal with the Stand user as quickly as possible, before they realize what I'm doing and try to go for the civilians instead. I might as well go for the landing pads.

My head popped out from cover. I took one glance at the passage to the airships before ducking back in an instant. I let out a shiver. Oh gods, there's another jellyfish barricade in my path, and they are packed! There's room for someone my size to squeeze through the gaps, but I've seen the tricks this Stand plays. That one barricade is probably a maze of its own. A single mistake navigating through that will get me surrounded, and then it's over for me. But I can't run away, either. They've trapped me here, and the only thing I can do now is wait for them to catch up.

Whoever this is, they have a surprisingly strong Stand. Maybe it's just jellyfish, but the sheer numbers of them this Stand has is nothing to mess with. With proper planning, they could basically use this technique and leave no survivors. This one person alone most likely has enough jellyfish to sweep the entire stadium and kill everyone by themselves.

But thinking about it now, there's something unusual about that fact. If they have the numbers needed to engulf the entire stadium with jellyfish right now, why haven't they done that already? This is during a White Fang attack. It's like… like they're trying to limit the damage that they're causing. Like they're trying their best not to kill someone or a certain type of person within the crowd.

But who would bring in deadly jellyfish into a stadium and  _not_  use them to kill everyone? It doesn't make any sense. There's no way that the Stand user isn't White Fang. We know for a fact that the White Fang had planned an attack on the city for some time, and they're doing it right now. Maybe the Stand user is trying to take down any human they run into and avoiding every single Faunus they find. But if that's the case, then why don't they send individual jellyfish to take care of just the humans? None of this makes any sense.

… I shook my head. Maybe it's not an issue of choosing who is being attacked. Maybe the reason why the Stand can't spread out everywhere is because it has a limiting factor. Like the user can produce a ton of jellyfish, but the more there are, the shorter the range is or something. That's really the only thing I can think of—

—And I shouldn't be thinking about this right now. I slapped myself in the face. If I don't do something, I might put the crowd in danger! A sigh escaped me. I guess I'm going to have to go in blind. I really, really wished I didn't have to. If there was a way of making sure I could continue forwards without having to worry about getting stung… if I could figure out how to make some kind of armor that can prevent the jellyfish from stinging me…

My eyes flickered to the jellyfish wall behind me. They floated over and around the vending stalls, but for some reason, they wouldn't float past it. So it is tangible… Wait a minute… I blinked. They're not entering the stalls. But that can't be right… the Atlesian soldiers… they had sting marks all over their face. So they must be able to go through armor, right? I bit my lip. But then again… I never did check their bodies… I only saw sting marks on their faces. And their helmet  _does_  expose their mouths… Could it be that I'm thinking about this wrong? That I  _can_  create something to protect me, but I thought otherwise?

I turned towards the stall I've been hiding behind for way too long. A vehicle to protect me against the jellyfish. I know I didn't want to take the risk of a jellyfish hiding inside, but if I'm right… and I just needed to create a tight seal around my armor… The risk is worth it! I jerked the door open… and found nothing. Whew. I'm right. I stood up and started ripping off anything that immediately going to help me. Petals started floating away from my legs and flew under the stall, forming into tiny little insect legs to grip onto the floor.

And before I knew it, I had it. I stared at the terrible job that was the stall. My armored vehicle. I pulled myself into the stall and slammed the doors shut. Several more petals formed a seal in the gaps, enough so that the jellyfish couldn't get in, but loose enough so that I could still breathe. I willed the vehicle to move and gasped a second later when it actually jerked forwards. Oh my gods, this actually works. I'm moving! And I'm not seeing any tentacles in here. This is perfect!

I bumped into something a second later. Oh, yeah… I can't see where I'm going. That's going to be a problem. What's the point of completely being protected if you don't know where to go— Wait a minute. I pulled my scroll and called a familiar number.

Jaune picked up almost immediately. "Ruby?" he asked through the speakers.

"Hi, Jaune!" I blinked multiple times, the light from my scroll blinding me for a moment. "I'm currently looking for one of the Stand users, and I could use your help. You're stuck in the surveillance room, right?"

"Yes. The good news is that Ciel hasn't woken up yet, so I'm not in any danger. The bad news is that I'm still stuck in here. But… where are you, and why do you ask?"

"Well, in order to find the Stand user, I need to get through a jellyfish swarm." I looked up, imagining the swarm that must be engulfing the stall. "I hid myself in this stall to avoid the jellyfish, but I can't see where I'm going. I'm currently in section G. Can you tell me what's up ahead?"

He let out a hum. "Well… okay." The sounds of ruffling sounded out from the speaker, followed by keys on a keyboard clacking. "Section G… Oh! I see you. You're in the stall with the broken sign, right?"

"Yeah."

"I see you." He let out a gasp. "And oh gods, that's a big swarm."

"Yup. But again, I'm safe from where I am. I can get through this place just fine. I just need to know what where to go, and whether it's safe for me to exit, stuff like that. Oh yeah, if you find the Stand user in question and where they are, that'll be nice."

"Alright," he said. "Well, you're currently against one of the stalls. Back up, then turn right. From there it should be clear for you to go."

Oh yeah… I nodded, making the adjustments he asked for. "Thanks, Jaune." And with that, I started my journey through the jellyfish swarm.

* * *

Shivers kept running down my back. My Faunus ears were twitching beyond belief. If there was any way to describe what I'm feeling right now, I would say it's a combination of confusion and dread.

" _Mama!_ " the Cupid cooed, stretching its limbs toward me. Me? It's considering me its… mom? I stared at the creature in horror of the revelation. Its glowing red eyes were almost… friendly and child-like here. I couldn't find the mischievous and malicious look I remembered it having long, long ago, back when I first discovered and tracked it back to our room.

This was an absolute twist in personality, a complete one-eighty degree turn. Why did it become so relaxed and happy at the sight of me today, when it had stabbed me with the Arrow before? And 'mama?' How— Why would think that I'm its mother? There's no way that I gave birth to it. Hell, I've never even done  _that_  with another person! The closest time I came to that would be… Adam…

I shook my head. Don't think about him. He's out of your life forever, Blake. What he wants is not what you want. He might have convinced a significant part of the White Fang to follow his aggressive ideas, but it's not going to live forever. His one-sided thinking will only lead to his downfall, and the downfall of the White Fang. That's not you anymore. It's easier to forget and do the right thing.

I shook my head again. Why was I thinking about him? I should be focusing on the Cupid! I looked up. So 'mama…' what could this mean? Why would it react that way, especially towards me? Does it have to do with the gloves somehow?

"Blake." I turned to look at my partner to see her lilac eyes locked right on the Cupid. "I don't know what's going on, but it seems to think that you're its mom. Maybe we can use this to our advantage." Yang pointed towards the Cupid. "Since it's paying attention to you, maybe you should distract it. That'll let me creep around the streetlight. Then I'll attack it once it lets down its guard completely. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." I started creeping towards the street light, taking tiny steps. "Hello there," I said in a soothing voice. Well… my best attempt at a soothing voice. With how monotone my voice is, my attempt came out more creepy and sinister than the calm and motherly voice I wanted. I ignored the thought and kept going. "Hi there, baby. Uh… Did you miss—" I sighed. "Did you miss 'mommy?'"

" _Mama!_ " The Grimm being clapped its hands together, ignoring the arrowhead that swung dangerously close to its nose. " _Mama!_ "

"Yes, I'm your 'mommy.'" I bit my bottom lip. Okay, what in the world do I do now? What's a thing parents do to entertain a baby? My mind went back to my own parents. Well… I did remember when Mom would get me to eat food by pretending it was a flying snake… I don't think that's going to be too useful. Uh, what else… Dad would give me piggy back rides through the gardens of Menagerie—

Oh, come on! Think! I tried racking my brain. Games, games… maybe a game would help. But what kind of game would I play with a Grimm baby? Maybe… Oh! Peek-a-boo! I could play peek-a-boo with the Cupid! … That sounds like the stupidest idea out there. Why would anyone think that just covering your face and revealing it would be entertaining? Ozpin said this thing has the wisdom of someone who is a century, no, maybe many centuries old! This thing has more knowledge than I can possibly hope to know! There's no way that such a being would fall for a game of peek-a-boo!

I let out a sigh. But it's worth a shot, I guess. I covered my eyes. "Where's 'mommy?'" My ears could pick out a sound of confusion coming from the Cupid. I threw my hands away. "There she is!" I yelled with a bit of force. The baby drew back for a moment, looking shocked. What the— is it actually working? Or am I somehow scaring it? My gods, if it's the latter, I feel bad for any child I might have later in life. I would be a terrible mom. But I gotta keep going. I covered my eyes again. "Where's 'mommy?'" I revealed my face.

"There she is!" I yelled again, but this time with more force. This time the Cupid giggled, clapping its hands. My gods, this is actually working. Out of all of the things that could possibly distract this monstrous Grimm, a game is keeping it occupied! I glanced at Yang, who was already making a decent amount of progress moving away from me and around the street light. Is this plan actually going to work? Oh my gods, we just might be able to pull this off without a hitch. Who knew that the one thing that could stop this creature is a round of peek-a-boo and somebody who can shoot it in the back.

My hands covered my face yet again. "Where's 'mommy?'" An unusual squeak escaped from the Cupid. Huh? I separated my fingers and peeked through the holes in my hand. Huh? The Cupid had its head turned, as if it was looking at Yang instead of me. What the— I made a bunch of cooing sounds. "Come on, baby. Look at me. Seriously, focus on me. Where's 'mommy?" The sentient Grimm looked at me just a moment. Alright. Time to surprise it. I threw my hands out, giving the child my best goofy grin. "There she is—"

Before I could even finish, an angry squeal escaped from the Cupid, sharp teeth bared as it snapped towards Yang. It curled itself up into a ball, the arrowhead sticking out towards me. The formation reminded me of sprinters and how they would line up in starting blocks. Like it's going to spring out at… Oh gods—

I ran forwards. "Yang!" The girl glanced at me.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** formed in front of me before zipping towards the Cupid. "Get down!"

An 'eep' escaped my partner's mouth as she threw herself onto the ground. Come on,  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS!** **」** I held my breath as my Stand reached for the Arrow. It's so close… Just a good push into the street light. We can disarm the Cupid, if only I can submerge the Arrow with my Stand ability. I bit my lip. Come on, do it,  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS!** **」**

But right as the Stand grazed the shaft of the Arrow, the Cupid leapt. I hissed, the Arrow literally slipping out of my grasp. Oh gods, Yang! Gambol Shroud shifted in my hands, taking on its pistol form as I yanked it out from its sheath and fired a round at the soaring Grimm. It didn't really do much, just flying past the Cupid's face without hitting anything. However, it did force the monster to swerve just a bit. That meant everything.

Yang yelled, rolling away the moment the Cupid slammed into the ground next to her. Ember Celica roared with her, spitting buckshot towards the grounded monster. It took flight almost immediately after landing. Not a single buckshot made its mark as the Cupid flew back onto its perch, eyes narrowed as it watched the both of us closely like a hawk.

I put myself between Yang and the Cupid. "What just happened? Why didn't it work now?"

The girl shrugged. "No idea. I was shocked as you were the moment the Cupid turned its attention away from you. What could've caused it to start paying attention to what I'm doing?"

My mind drew a complete blank. I can't answer her question in a satisfactory manner. The Cupid is just unpredictable! When we think we found something, the Cupid proves us wrong. When we thought we had a trail to follow, this creature dashes our hopes without a care in the world. At this point, the only sorta reliable information we have on the Cupid is that it's a baby, it can fly, it uses the Arrow on people, and it's intelligent. But where do we go from there? We've tried several times to defeat this Cupid, and it just won't go down! How do we defeat this thing?

I stared into the Cupid's red eyes, trying to make out any hint of a clue we could use to stop this thing. It kept its muscles tense, like it was ready to make a break for it if we made the wrong move. The eyes were unrelenting, constantly staring without even as much as a blink. The only thing different this time around is that it's not trying to play and mess around with us. The other times we tried to take the Arrow, it flew circles around us. But not this time. It's taking us seriously this time around. But why now? When it had every opportunity to mess around with us, why choose now to take us seriously?

What do we have now that makes us enough of a threat to this thing? I started to notice the Cupid's muscles relaxing a bit. In an instant, all of the tension within it released, causing it to yawn before adjusting its seat on the street light. Despite that, it kept its eye on us. Or more specifically, Yang. Why is that? What's different between us? All that I have are these gloves— Wait. I think we need to revisit that…

"Yang, I know this is a bad time for this, but we need to talk about these gloves." I held up my hands. "There's no doubt that there's something special about them. They grow hot, you can feel blood pulse through it like an actual hand, they can signal to us where the Cupid is. Hell, they even look like Remnan hands, if the hand was skinned and this was what remained. But you know the weirdest thing about all of this? That while I'm wearing it, the Cupid isn't trying to capitalize on our mistakes."

"Huh? That doesn't make any sense," Yang started. "It went after me while I was trying to creep around it. How is that not capitalizing on a mistake—"

"I mean more in the sense that it could've hurt us while we were carrying out our plan. I was wide open the whole entire time I was playing peek-a-boo. No weapons, I didn't ready my Stand, I didn't have a plan to deal with the Cupid if it decided to attack me. But it laughed at me. It didn't try to lash out. That wouldn't make sense for an ancient Grimm. Then when it attacked you, it could've easily dodged the bullets and attack you directly. But it didn't. It backed off and chose to watch us. Hell, I think it was ready to pounce at you once it reached the street light again, but only stopped when I stood in the way."

A sighed slid out of my mouth. "It attacked you the entire time, but never me. There's no reason it wouldn't attack me, except for one. The gloves. There's something significant about the gloves that changes the Cupid's perception of us. Something about them that makes it friendlier towards us."

"The reason why it calls you 'mama.'" Yang's eyes widened. "I think I'm starting to get it. Whoever is wearing the gloves stops becoming a target for the Grimm. It won't try to hurt anyone with the gloves on. There's no way we're going to figure out why the Cupid finds them so important right now. But that doesn't matter. By putting on the glove—" I glanced up at the completely complacent Grimm, who clapped its hands together like an actual baby again. Yang nodded her head. "By putting on the glove, we can get close enough to the Cupid without worrying about getting hurt."

I nodded my head. "That's what I thought as well. Maybe these gloves are something that belonged to its… mother, for lack of a better term." I really didn't want to believe the alternative. "Well, we know that wearing these gloves protects us from any kind of attack from the Cupid. So…" I slipped off my right-hand glove and held it out towards my partner. "Maybe we'll be ignored by the Cupid if we each wear one."

Yang paled for a moment, biting her lip before sighing. "Oh man… you have a point there. But geez… the things we do to save the world." She yanked off her fingerless gloves and took a long sigh. "Ugh… here goes nothing."

My partner's face immediately scrunched up in disgust the moment she slipped her hand into the glove. "Geez… oh gods, it feels like slipping into the guts of a sheep, if the sheep guts were the shape of a hand and it was even less lubed. Uh…" Yang glanced up to see my eyebrow raise up at the statement. "Not like I actually tried that before. That would be… that would be messed up."

I nodded my nod in understanding, my frown clearly saying otherwise. "Sure… sure." My eyes turned back towards the Cupid, who still didn't move anywhere from its original position. If anything, it tilted its head as it leaned towards us. It doesn't seem like it's going anywhere… Well, it's not like it can get away from us anyways. I turned back to see Yang flexing her right hand, staring at the gloved hand. Her face still had that look of disgust, but now it has a bit of fascination showing. "So, are you good?"

She nodded her head, her eyes still focused on the fully gloved hand. "I think so. It's so weird… it's like a one size fits all kind of thing." Yang shook her head. "I'm over it now. So, do we try what we did last time?"

"Will it fall for the same thing we did last time?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I mean, this thing is smart. Even with the gloves on, we have no idea if this can recognize what we tried before." I checked the ammo in Gambol Shroud. Only used one round. Plenty more until I run dry. "If it does, it might do something we might not expect."

Yang let out a hum. "Hmm… that's true." She nodded her head. "Okay… But maybe we can confuse it as we attack from both sides." She gestured to each side. "We might be able to overwhelm the Cupid if we use our weapons, with your Stand coming out once in awhile to catch it off guard."

"Hmm…" Now it's my turn to nod. "Let's do that. I'll go left, and you go right, alright?"

My partner started to nod before stopping. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment. A grin formed on her face. "Sure thing." She chuckled to herself. "Nice one."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," Yang said, waving the comment away. "Let's do the thing now."

I nodded, and with that we split up, each circling the Cupid on opposite ends. The moment we did that the Cupid sat up, eyes narrowing as it glanced at me. Then it glanced at Yang. Back to me, then back to Yang. I watched, Gambol Shroud raised at it as its head bounced back and forth between the two of us. This is unusual, but this seems good. I think we've managed to confuse it. Actually, I think we could shoot it right now. This is the perfect opportunity. Shoot it while it's confused. I shook my head ever so slightly. No, let's sick with the original plan. That's the better one, anyways.

" _Mama?_ " the Cupid asked, looking at me. It turned around towards Yang. " _Mama?_ " So it is confused. I tensed up the moment the Cupid tensed up as well. Or maybe not? Gods, it's hard to tell with this monster. There's no way that this thing isn't suspicious of what's going on. Its eyes fell to the floor for a moment, making the baby Grimm look… lost, surprisingly. Like an actual baby who doesn't understand what's going on. I raised my eyebrow. With the look on its face, It looked… looked like an actual Remnan.

No. I shook my head. There's no way this thing has a lick of human or Faunus nature, or anything related to Remnans. This thing is a Grimm. Grimm don't feel emotion. They're just… there. Forces of nature who only want to destroy the world. Nothing matters to them except our deaths. There's no need to feel bad about what's going to happen to this thing. I brought the weapon sights and lined it up. I'm not going to let it continue to wreak havoc on Vale.

I squeezed the trigger the moment the Cupid turned to look at Yang. Gambol Shroud barked a moment later, spitting out a pistol round towards the monster on top of the street lights. Almost instantly it tried to throw itself off of the fixture, but not before the projectile slammed into the Cupid's shoulder, piercing through its body with a sickening crunch.

An ear-piercing shriek escaped from the Grimm baby, which reached for the hole through its shoulder as it fell to the ground. It didn't take long for it to stop its fall in midair. A small stream of wispy vapor leaked from the bullet wound as it swirled through the air. Black ichor streamed down its torso before dripping from its toe to the ground. It wasn't a clean hit, not by a long shot. But this is the most damage we've done to the Cupid, well… ever. I brought my weapon up to the Cupid again. One well-placed shot will end this thing. And it doesn't look like its going to move. I'll just shoot it again—

Before I could fire off another round, it started sniffing. Once. Then twice. I lowered my gun. What the—

High-pitched crying flew out of the Cupid and through the air, causing the rest of us to wince and cover our ears in pain. Ow! I contorted my face in agony, folding my Faunus ears into my head before turning to look away from the Cupid. It might not be an actual Remnan, but it really felt like I shot a baby. I shouldn't feel guilty about doing that, but for some reason, that ugly feeling of guilt started filling my chest. Why? I can't— why?

The crying started slowing down, its pitch becoming a bit more tolerable. I lifted my head up along with Gambol Shroud, focusing my aim down my weapon sights.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** appeared in front of me, diving into the ground before swimming towards the street light. Across from me, Yang racked Ember Celica, slamming her fists together and giving me a nod. I glanced back up at the Cupid, who shot me a dirty glare. It floated back up to an upright position, red eyes glowing with the flames of malice as it bore its teeth at me. My other hand snatched Gambol Shroud's sheath and brought it up to my face. What is the Cupid going to do? It raised the Arrow up above its head like a spear. Oh gods—

With a screech, the Cupid shot towards me arrowhead first, moving out of the way a couple seconds before my Stand could reach it. I took a sharp breath. Gods… The image of **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** disappeared as Gambol Shroud barked, firing several rounds toward the Grimm monster. It wasn't even fazed by it, twisting its body around the projectiles with little to no effort. My breath hitched. Come on… Just a little closer…

Before I could make a move, the Cupid broke through, piercing through my defenses and spearing my heart with the arrowhead. Now. I shed my previous body, throwing myself forwards and out of the way while the shadow of my former self-absorbed the hit. My head spun around. The Cupid let out a squeak of surprise right at that moment, pausing in the air for a moment when saw my shadow melt into nothingness. Alright. That's a good spot. I brought my cleaver up and took a deep breath. It's over for you. I swung it down as hard as I could, aiming right for its skull.

A flick of the wrist spun the Arrow around, its arrowhead catching on the cleaver. I let out a gasp as I felt my arm shake with strain. My gods… how strong is this thing? I shot it in the shoulder, and it still has the strength to hold me off? It turned to glare at me, furrowing its eyebrows in apparent disgust. With another flick of the wrist, the Arrow spun away, sending my cut off course. Instead of Gambol Shroud cleaving into its head, the weapon caught nothing but air. I jumped back immediately, cleaver raised back up to my face. The two of us stared each other down. We're both waiting for the other to make the first move. The baby Grimm ran its finger down the arrowhead for just a moment, as if it was checking whether the edge had chipped or not. It hadn't.

I narrowed my eyebrows. Jaune and Ruby weren't kidding when they said that the Cupid was a difficult opponent to face off against. But this is just straight up ridiculousness. This thing can react to anything I do, and it has the speed to pull it off as well. It's like it's in my head or something. I let out a low growl. How in the world are we supposed to hit this thing in the first place? The only times somebody managed to get a hit on it was when it was… distracted…

Wait a minute. I bit my lip. Okay, well let me think about it for a second. Out of all of the attempts we made on it, the only two times we managed to hit the Cupid were when Jaune broke a tree branch over it during the simulation, and when I winged it with a bullet from Gambol Shroud. If Jaune remembered everything correctly, his branch idea was definitely a surprise attack. But what about my attack, then? It was definitely looking at Yang when I fired the shot, but it still managed to react in time to avoid death. Even with its guard down, it reacted fast enough in both situations to survive the attack… could it be that we needed to be faster in our attacks?

But how? Admittedly, the tree branch attack was fairly slow. It does make a little sense that the Cupid survived that. But a Dust bullet? Especially one designed to fly at supersonic speeds? If that can't hit the Cupid, there isn't a lot else that can. Hell, even Ruby can't move fast enough to hit the Grimm, and her Semblance is super-speed! And I don't think we have any options faster than Ruby. So how are we going to hit that thing? I narrowed my eyes. Or maybe… maybe the issue isn't our weapon speed. Speed means nothing if someone can react quickly enough to avoid that problem. But if we can put the Cupid in a corner where it can't react… We just might have the solution—

The Cupid let out a screech, zipping straight towards me yet again at breakneck speeds. Instead of bringing the Arrow out in front, it opened its jaw, revealing the massive line of sharp teeth rearing to tear flesh out. New plan, then. I sheathed Gambol Shroud and grabbed it with both hands, holding the weapon like a cricket bat. We need to make sure that this thing doesn't outmaneuver us. I held my breath as I watched the monster approach me. Come on, Blake. Try to remember all those forgotten lessons from Dad about playing cricket. Something about swinging the bat… Wait, no. Why would I need to do that? I just have to let the Cupid hit the bat.

I readjusted my weapon, raising it up just in time for it to slam right into the metal. I gritted my teeth as I felt the blow vibrate through my arms. Oh gods, that doesn't feel good at all. It was worth dealing with the shock, though. The Cupid shrieked in pain moments later, drifting back as it rubbed the swelling bump on its head. Perfect.

Before it could do anything else, I pressed my palm against the shaft of the Arrow, pushing it towards its forearm before grabbing the both of them with one hand. "Got you!" I dropped my weapon before snatching its other arm. The baby didn't even get a chance to react before I twisted its arms behind its back and slammed its body into the ground. "You're not going to run away from us if I have you pinned to the floor." My Stand appeared right next to me, releasing her claws as she let out a purr of delight. "No more of this chaos. Your reign of terror ends today."

The Grimm underneath me disagreed, letting out loud shrieks as it writhed on the floor. I winced for a moment before pushing the pain to the side. " **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS!** **」** " The cat-like Stand bounced.

At the sight of the sharp claws, the Cupid doubled down on its struggle, trying to force itself out of my grasp. I yelped when it managed to levitate both it and me off the ground, but it couldn't fly away before  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** scored the skin on its side with light claw marks. The monster went berserk, letting loose the mother of all shrieks out of its mouth. By now its struggle finally bore fruit as it slipped out from under me. I dismissed my Stand. Oh gods no—

Another yelp escaped my mouth as the monster started swinging me to and fro, dragging me around the area. I winced, my Aura flaring as I felt the friction burn of the cement trying to rub my skin off. "Yang! A little help—"

Then the monster did the strangest thing: it brought its leg up to its face. My eyes narrowed. What? It revealed what it was doing soon enough when it shoved its foot in its mouth and slammed its jaw on it. I gasped. Black ichor dripped down its face as it pulled away, revealing a foot with no toes. I could see extremely dark red stumps where the toes should be, each one pouring the oily substance. The Cupid itself let out a groan, shuddering with disgust before spitting out tiny little nubs. Its toes… oh my gods…

Before I could react in any way, the Cupid flung its bleeding foot back, splashing my face with its ichor. Oh gods! It's in my eyes and mouth! I coughed, letting go of the monster. I groaned in disgust as I spat out the oily liquid out of my mouth. Ugh… ugh. I started to wipe my eyes. Gods, I need to get this stuff out of my eyes. It's so dark, I can't see a thing. I blinked a couple of times right as the foul substance rubbed off. Huh? What the— Where's the Cupid—"

"Blake, to your left!"

I jerked left, holding my arm upright as the monster clamped its jaws around my forearm. A shriek escaped my mouth, my body toppling over with the baby missile chewing on me. I grabbed its head and shoved my thumb into its eye. A muffled screech escaped from the Grimm, causing it to shake its body around like a shark who just caught its meal. At the same time, one of its tiny arms tried hitting the hand on its face. The other one reached for the glove, strangely enough. It didn't have the arm span to actually grab one of the ends of the gloves and yank it off, but it didn't stop it from pinching my hand.

Agh! I winced. Ow, get off! I kneed the Cupid in the stomach, to little avail. Come on! My knee slammed into it again. All that did was force it to clamp on my arm even harder. Get off of me! I tried lifting myself up, only for the Cupid to force my shoulders against the ground. My gods, how is this one baby making it so difficult to get up? Yang. Where is she? I could use her help right now—

The sound of a shotgun blast registered in my ears. Before I realized it, the Cupid's leg flew off, torn away from its body in a gruesome display. The baby Grimm itself let out a screech, releasing its grip on me and turning to see who shot it. I saw the chance. I rolled away and got up, turning to see Yang with her left arm extended. Smoke drifted up from Ember Celica as she stared down the monster in front of her. "Gods, thank you, Yang." I ran over to the forgotten Gambol Shroud and picked it up. "Yang, I know what we need to do. We just need to get—"

I couldn't finish my words when a whimper escaped from the Cupid. Hmm? I turned around to see the Cupid already flying away in a random direction, using the Arrow almost as a pointer. Ichor dripped freely from its leg as it fled. I let out a gasp. "What the— It's getting away!" I started towards it. "Come on, we need to end this thing right now! Look, it's not even flying that quickly anymore." I yanked out Gambol Shroud and switched it to its pistol form. "We can bring all of this to an end right now. All we have to do is just shoot—"

"Not yet, Blake." Yang cocked her weapons, reloading her weapon at an almost leisurely pace as she followed the Cupid. "Now's not the time to strike it."

"Yang, I don't think you understand." I started walking with her as I pointed to the Grimm. "It's wounded. There's no reason not to—"

"The Cupid's still strong even after you shot it in the shoulder and after it was cut by your Stand." She narrowed her eyes. "This thing might've lost its leg, but I don't doubt that it's still as strong as it was before. Plus, now it's looking for any sign of danger while it's running away. If we attack it now, it'll realize what's going on and not look back."

My eyelids lowered. Yang's right in that sense. The Cupid never lost its strength in spite of all the wounds it's taken. What makes this attack any different? Still, I let out a growl of frustration. I glanced at my partner. "But if not now, when? We can't exactly let it leave and heal up. So what now? What do we wait for?"

"For it to lower its guard again." She raised her hands up, revealing that her glove was gone. "There's one thing that I know for sure can calm the Cupid down, and that's the gloves. I realized it when you were pinning the Cupid down and forcing it to hold still. The gloves are supposed to represent the mother, right? That's the only thing that can console this baby." I nodded my head, letting out a hum of confusion. Where is Yang taking this?

"Think about it. What kind of baby finds it comforting for their mother to roughhouse them and pin them to the ground?" My eyes widened. Wait… could it be that my method… Yang continued, "What kind of mother hurts her baby, struggles to take away something the baby has, in this case, the Arrow? What kind of mother would abandon their baby and not leave anything to remember them by?" Yang bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment as she let out a pained sigh.

I reached for the girl. "Yang, you don't have to try and force yourself through painful memories if you don't want to—"

"But I do, Blake. Because that's what showed me the solution to this problem." Yang opened her eyes again, both focused with resolve. "There's nothing a child wants more than love and comfort from its mom. And I'll give that to the monster. Just for a moment. Long enough to end everything." She took another sharp breath in. "Blake… can you hand me your glove?"

"Huh— alright, then," I said as I slipped the glove off of my hand and pressed it into Yang's outstretched palm. Just what was she planning on doing with the gloves?

Before I could open my mouth, my partner gave me a nod. "Thanks." She didn't do anything with it, just squeezing it in her hands before gesturing to me. "Come on, hurry up. We've gotta run a bit, but considering that the Cupid's currently wounded, I think we can make it in time." Yang ran off of the walkway and onto the grass, with me following close behind.

"Yang," I hissed when I caught up to her. "None of this is making sense right now. What do you mean, give that thing love and comfort? What difference would it make to do such a thing? It's a Grimm, first and foremost, it's probably older than we can comprehend."

"It's also a baby. Maybe not a baby  _first_ , but still a baby, and you said yourself that it's a smart baby, right?" I nodded my head. "Well, think of it like sentient Grimm. They get more intelligent as they grow older, they get more in tune with the environment and grow stronger, but they never lose what they are at their core. Beowolves act like real wolves at the end of the day, Ursai act like bears, so on and so forth. And if this metaphor still works for the Cupid, well, the same thing applies. It might be very smart, but it is still held by what they are at heart. And at the heart of this Cupid is a small baby."

My partner and I started to slow down as we approached the cafeteria. The building itself still held itself together, but it definitely had seen better days. Flames burned within the building, likely due to a gas leak combined with a lit fire somewhere. It didn't look like the flame was getting out of control at the moment, but even if it did, there was nowhere for the flame to go, especially with the lack of buildings around it. Several chunks of the building fell inside and around the building. The attack was not kind to it.

I gawked at the sight. It's so strange looking at the building now in its damaged state. Just to think… a couple of months ago we destroyed this place in a food fight. And that a couple of hours ago, this entire place was still one entire piece.

But now… it's destroyed all in the name of misguided ideologies, both the White Fang and whoever is behind the Cupid attacks— and at this point, the evidence is starting to point towards Team C.M.E.N. I shook my head, letting out a sigh. How much things change so quickly. When this is over, we're going to need to confront those guys for everything they've done here.

But of course, that won't matter a bit if we don't actually take down the Cupid. Yang looked over her shoulder, behind me. "Looks like the Cupid itself is still pretty far away. I don't think this thing will notice us before we're ready." With that, she ran over to a nearby bush and pulled loose branches away. Underneath all of that rubble was the other pale glove, a bit dusty from all of the debris, but otherwise undamaged. My eyes widened. She must've used her glove as bait! That's why the Cupid was trying to run in this direction!

Yang snatched it up and started pulling the gloves over her hands. Soon after, she took a long breath before racking a bullet into her weapons. "Okay, Blake. Here's the thing. I'm going to have to go and approach the Cupid alone. It'll suspect something if I don't do otherwise. So basically all I need you to do is either hide somewhere and make sure that no other Grimm interrupt what I'm doing. Okay?"

I stared at the blonde girl. "Are you sure?"

She nodded her head. "More than anything else."

"… Okay, then." I ran behind an unbroken pillar, merging into it with the help of  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS.** **」** Once I was inside, I walked around to face the open area where Yang and the Cupid were going to meet. I sighed. I did my part. Now I just hope to gods that Yang knows what she's doing.

It wasn't too long when the Cupid finally floated in, looking all wounded and exhausted. The dripping ichor, although slowing down, was still pouring out of its leg. Looking at the trail it left behind, there was absolutely no way that any normal person would still be alive, let alone a baby. But as a creature of Grimm, it played by different rules. I could see inky black tears drip down its face as it made its way towards the entrance of the cafeteria.

"Hey, little guy," Yang said, catching the Cupid's attention. Unlike her usual energetic way of talking, here her voice was softer and more gentle. She held up her hands, revealing the gloves on her hands.

The monster tilted its head to the side, red eyes widening. " _Mama?_ "

"Yes, it's mommy. Mommy's here to take care of you." Yang started towards the Cupid, only to let out a gasp of surprise. Or an attempt of gasping, at least. The gasp itself felt more forceful than it should've been. "You're hurt!" Yang continued, "Oh my gods, let mommy take care of you."

It coiled back the moment Yang took a step towards it, seemingly more out of fear than anything else. My partner stopped immediately. "What's wrong? Did the bad people hurt you?"

Shockingly enough, the Cupid nodded its head, curling up to hold the stub where its lower leg used to be. Another gasp escaped from Yang. "That's so bad of the bad men! They shouldn't do that to you!" I started narrowing my eyes. Where in the world is she taking this? Yang gave the Cupid a gentle smile. "You don't have to worry, little guy. Mommy's going to make it better, but I need to come over, okay?"

The Cupid shook for a moment, considering what Yang had to say. I held my breath. Come on, please work… It finally let out the smallest of nods as it slowly drifted towards the girl.

"Alright then," Yang stated, holding her arms out before grabbing the baby. "Oof! You're a heavy baby, aren't you? Aren't you such a heavy baby?" She started rocking the monster ever so gently. "You're growing up pretty quickly, huh?"

She slowly sat herself down, still rocking the Cupid calmly in her arms. She let out a light shushing noise, running one of her hands over the baby's head. "It's okay. You'll be in a better place." Yang continued to stroke the child's head for maybe a minute or so, making nothing but a small 'shh.' The Cupid's eyes started drooping.

"You know," my partner said to no one in general after the minute has passed. "There's a song I remember, one that I really liked. I don't remember all of the lyrics, but it's… it's fitting for a lullaby."

With that, she started singing. "Twelve hours… is a long night. When you're searching… with no hope in sight." I furrowed my brow. For someone who sounds terrible singing, Yang's… actually not bad at this one. Actually, she's good at this one. But at the same time, I don't recognize it. It's nothing like anything she's listened to when I'm around.

Yang continued, "Aimless… on the inside… And the damage… makes you want to hide…" She never stopped stroking the child's head. "I know that it seems pointless. I know that it feels fake. I know you can't stand the thought of being stray… one more day." The Cupid's eyes had an almost somber look in its eyes, it staring into the night sky. I think I started seeing tears run down the Cupid's face.

Tears started to roll down Yang's face as well. "Dry your eyes now, baby… Broken wings won't hold you down…" She pressed the palm of her hand against its forehead. "You'll take flight soon, baby… You'll be lifted up… and you'll be there."

A crack rang through the air. The Cupid's head disintegrated, splitting apart in an instant as the buckshot at point-blank range ripped its skull apart. The child's body went limp, dropping the Arrow in an instant. As for Yang… she just sat there, covered in the ichor of the child, trying her absolute best to calm down her breathing. The torso of the baby she killed started smoking up in her arms.

I leaped out of the pillar and started towards my partner. "Oh my gods… you did it, Yang. The Cupid… it's gone now. We don't have to worry about the Arrow anymore. There won't be any more new Stand users to put the world at risk." I stopped. Yang had tears running down her face. Is she… crying for the Cupid? "Yang… what's wrong?"

She blinked. "I can't believe I did it. I didn't think I would be able to stoop so low, and now— now I know. I'm looking at exactly what I can do." Yang placed the torso on the ground. "You remember my mom, right, Blake? She abandoned me all those years ago… she failed me as a parent. And I know we needed to do this, we couldn't afford the Cupid to get away, but looking at the body, I just can't help but think—" She sniffled. "Am I just as bad as my mom?"

"You're being ridiculous, Yang." I shook my head as I grabbed the Arrow, plopping next to her. We stared at the decomposing body together. "You're nothing like your mother. The fact that you're having these doubts say a lot." I glanced at the Arrow I picked up. "I can't say anything about your mom, but from what I hear, she left because she couldn't face herself when times got tough. A good mother would do a difficult thing for the people they love." A mental image of my own mom appeared in my head, how great she was to me. "And looking at you now, I think you're already a better mother than your own."

Yang managed to crack a smile. "You think?"

"Yeah."

We sat next to each other, nodding our heads in silence. "Say, Blake." Yang turned to look at me. "The song I sang… it was a lullaby by Summer. Ruby's Mom. It was something she made so long ago, something that always stuck in my mind. I always thought that it was about us finding ourselves. Do you think… if the Cupid ever had a soul… do you think it managed to find peace in its last moments?"

A yellow wisp was caught from the corner of my eye. Huh? I looked up to see a tiny yellow spirit, soaring up into the sky. A child smiled, giggling as it floated towards the night sky. We locked eyes. It waved at me, letting out one last giggle before the clouds swallowed it up.

I smiled. "I think it did."

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 8/17/2018**

* * *


	43. Warflower - Part 1

They say that slow and steady wins the race. I definitely understand why people use that phrase all the time. If you put time into working hard and keep it up, you'll make more progress than the person who rushed a job and messed up as a result. And when I'm surrounded by a swarm of jellyfish, with my only protection being this sealed up vendor stall, I can't afford to mess up. Moving slowly is a good idea if I want to get through this swarm alive. But the people who'll tell you that saying never mention the fact that you also need patience to pull it off. An ocean-sized amount of patience, in fact.

My cheeks became warmer as I stared into the darkness. This is so stupid… I'm moving at a snail's pace, it's a bumpy ride, I don't know where I am, and it's sending shivers down my spine thinking about what's going on outside. … I picked up my scroll again.

"Jaune, has anything changed around me?"

"… No, not really," the boy replied. "It's still crowded as usual. Although your path is starting to curve left, so you might want to make the adjustments." I nodded, tapping my fingers against the bottom of the stall as I willed the tiny legs below us to make the turn. And now… I just have to keep waiting. Keep waiting in this box as the jellyfish swarm does whatever it does around me, sit around and hope that there aren't any clusters that broke off to attack any civilians, or that something doesn't break my only source of protection.

I bit my lip and let out a restricted sigh. "Hey, Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel… tired?"

"Huh?" I heard the sound of rustling hair from the speakers. "Well, I guess I'm exhausted right now. The adrenaline from my fight with Ciel's been gone for some time, but I'm holding up—"

"No, as in tired of doing all this. Of searching for the Arrow, and fighting Stand users." I pressed my head against the floor. "We've been doing this for maybe a month now. Longer than anyone else. And after everything we have to go through, well… can you feel it?"

"Well— I mean, I guess. This definitely isn't something anybody has to face often." Jaune let out a sigh. "But Ruby, are you listening to yourself? This isn't like you. I never thought this was something that you ever worried about."

"No, not really." I let out a sigh of my own. "It's just— It's been on my mind for a while now. My heart… it hurts every time we have to fight our fellow Remnan, every time I see the pain of others. I don't think of it much when we're doing this, but when we have time to ourselves, when there's nothing to do…" I grasped my chest. "When I'm sitting here thinking back on everything… I can feel it. It's dull, but it keeps coming back. It stays longer every time I feel it. And… and I don't know how much I can take. I don't want to find out what's my breaking point. When I snap due to all the pressure."

"…" A long pause filled my little fort. Finally, Jaune spoke. "Ruby—"

I let out a chuckle. "Jaune. I'm just talking out loud. Don't think that just because I'm saying this, that means that I'm going to quit or run away when it gets tough. Not right now, at least. If anything, it means a lot that you're just listening. I appreciate it." I bit the inside of my cheek. "It might sound like I'm tempted to quit. But I know I'm stronger than that. I know myself. And I know I'm not going to quit. Not even if I break." I took in a deep breath. "Because this is what I want to do. Do… do you feel the same way?"

Jaune paused. "… Yeah," he exhaled. "I do. And I'm sure the others do as well. You gave that to us, that's for sure." I sat quiet hearing that. I did?

He continued, "I don't think we would still be fighting this fight if it wasn't for you. I can't really put my finger on why, but I guess… I guess it's because you're the central piece. The one who connected everything together and helped us realize what we need to do." He paused for a moment. "I don't think that you'll reach your breaking point. But I also know that if you do, everyone will be there to put you back together. Because you're the kind of person we all wish we were." I picked up the signs of shifting from the speaker. "Let's put that aside for now. You're out of the main swarm."

My eyes widened. "Say that again?"

"While we were talking, you managed to pass through another wall of jellyfish. It's not nearly as cluttered as before. It might be a trap, maybe not. But it looks like there's enough room to move around on your own without worrying about being stung."

Really? I dissolved my eyeball and reformed it through the stall. Oh my gods— He's right! It's way less cluttered here than before! In fact, I can probably walk around without too much trouble! I pulled myself out from the stall, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. Right. Back to the fight.

I opened my eyes and gasped. On the ground in front of me was a crowd of people lying down. Contorted looks of horror and despair were displayed front and center on their frozen faces. Some of them looked like they had struggled to crawl their way towards the exit. Others clawed their way towards family members, a few of them making it and holding each other in their last moments. Most of them didn't. The majority of them had their hands clawed over their chests to a certain degree. All of them had red, wavy scars running down their skin and face. From the looks of it, at least a third of what must be hundreds must've passed on already. The other two-thirds aren't going to make it.

Oh my gods… I started to feel my knees shake at the sight. There have to be hundreds of people right now on the floor… All of them are either dead or dying from the stings. And those who are still alive don't have any time left. I started hyperventilating. I— I need to find the Stand user right now. I took a short step before I gagged. My hand covered my mouth as I shut my eyes. My heart… the pain… this is all too much…

My mind took over and pushed the throbbing aside. No. Not now. I can't afford to waste any more time. You need to save whoever's still alive. I opened my eyes again. Come on, Ruby. Don't stop now.

My foot skidded across the ground. Take a deep breath. The living still needs a hero, no matter the cost. The lives lost… the ones that might've been saved if you were faster… you can't worry about them. Not when the Stand user's still out there and still able to kill. My strides started growing again. You might've failed in keeping everyone safe, but there's still the second best thing: making sure that no one else gets hurt. You need to keep on moving forwards. You need to believe that with all your heart right now. I glanced back to see the swarm of jellyfish starting to swim towards me. There's an entire colosseum that still needs protecting.

A whimper caught my attention. I turned to see somebody crawl out from under a vending stall. Huh? Somebody managed to hide from the swarm? I looked around. A couple of people were pulling themselves out from their hiding place, whether it was a vending stall, a blanket, or even another person. Murmurs floated through the air as they got up.

"Who are you?"

"A Huntress?"

"Oh my gods! We're saved!"

"How did this happen?"

"Is Mommy going to be okay?"

"What do we do?"

I counted everyone who popped out of various hiding spots and started towards me. Six. Out of everybody in this dying crowd, six managed to avoid getting stung. Oh my gods. My eyes watered. They can still be saved. I wished it was more… but six can become more than that.

"Everyone!" The tiny group turned to look at me. I held my hand up. "We need to get everyone out of here, but this section isn't safe. Making your way towards this section's landing pads wouldn't end well, and you guys can't come back the way I came."

"But how do we get out of here, then?"

"I'll get you guys to another section." I walked over to an air vent and kicked a grate open. "These vents are designed for escape in mind. If you have a map of where each vent goes, you can get to any landing pad on the Amity." I held my hands up. "Now, I need to head to the landing pad myself to deal with the threat, but I'll have one of my fellow Huntsmen take care of you guys. May I borrow one of your scrolls?"

One of them stepped forwards, pressing the device into my hands. "Thank you," I whispered to the man as I dialed in the number. My own scroll went up to my ear. "Jaune, are you still there?"

"Yeah," Jaune answered. "What's up?"

"I found a couple of survivors here, and I need you to lead them towards section H through the air vents, okay? I'm going to end this call and start another one on a different scroll. Please, show them the way to safety."

"Uh, alright. But what about you? I didn't check the corridor past where you are. What are you going to do if the swarm surprises you—"

"These guys need your help more than I do. Like you said, this area is less dense than the others. I can push through with my vehicle, but these guys can't. And we need to end the jellyfish threat quickly." I bit my lip. "Please, Jaune."

He sighed. "Okay. Well… good luck, then."

"You too." I ended my call and started the call from the other person's scroll. I gave the device back to the man who loaned it. "Whatever you do, listen to him, alright? He'll get you guys to safety."

"What about the others?"

"We'll do whatever we can for them as soon as we take care of the current threat. But it's important you guys get to safety first." I gave them the best smile I can give them. "We'll take care of the rest, okay?"

The small crowd stared at me for a moment before nodding and making their way over to the grate. And as for me… I continued forwards, carrying the stall on my back. I don't know who's behind the jellyfish attack… but I'll make sure they won't hurt any more people.

* * *

It was a few minutes after the Cupid faded away into nothingness when Yang spoke up. "So… what now?"

"Pardon?" I turned to look at my partner.

She pointed to the artifact in my hands. "Well, we have the Arrow now. After what must've been a month of searching and looking, we finally have it in our hands. And not only that, we finally stopped the Cupid once and for all. Which means no more Stand users can be made, no more worries of new threats appearing without us knowing. Once we confront the people behind the Arrow and the Cupid attacks, we're done. We're just… free. So what then?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. I've never really thought about it. I guess in the back of my mind, once everything is handled, I figured we'd go back to living a normal life, studying to become Huntresses."

"That's true… for me. That's the thing: I'm the only one without a Stand." Yang brushed a lock of hair back. "When this whole situation is dealt with, only I can really go back to living a normal life. At least as normal as the Huntress life can be. But for you, Weiss, Ruby, and several other students, all of you guys have to deal with having Stands for the rest of your lives. Like, knowing that your powers can fundamentally change our understanding of science has to be nothing short of shocking. And you all have to pretend they never existed."

Yang rubbed her eyes. "Gods… I still remember the days when I thought Ruby was going insane when she saw her Stand for the first time. That's going to be you all for the rest of your lives, otherwise the world will think you've lost your mind. Living that kind of life has to be tough."

A hum escaped my mouth while I twirled the Arrow. "I mean, I think Fox and the Headmaster managed just fine. Same thing for Arslan's family. They've known about Stands for a pretty long time, and they seem… okay. As normal as they can be."

"Hmm… I guess." My partner sighed. "But won't it get lonely? I don't know, but it has to be nerve-wracking carrying that burden. Especially if it's one you never asked for."

"I guess that's just the burden we have to bear, then." I shrugged my shoulder. "What is there to say? We'll grow and move on from this." A smile crawled up my face. "Sometimes I think you worry too much for our well being than you should. It's… a different side of you, that's for sure."

"You think?" Now it was the blonde's turn to smile. "I had to think about the future when nobody else in my family could. It happens when you need to grow up quickly." She turned to look into the night sky. "Honestly, I think you and the other Stand users shouldn't shoulder the burden alone. There's really no point hiding it when we have the CCT, don't you think? But hey. One step at a time, I guess." Her lilac eyes snapped to me. "So, you think we should help out with stopping the Breach now?"

A smile grew on my face. "I was wondering when you would say that. It shouldn't take long for us to clear Beacon cliffs—"

My ears picked up the sounds of several people running towards us. I dropped the smile. "Someone's coming."

"What?"

"Hide!" We both shot up and pressed our backs against some broken pillars.

I looked over the window. The interior of the cafeteria doesn't look any different from last time. Everything's still on fire, the rooftop's still broken, I can see exposed electrical wires coursing with energy. Nobody's in here yet, but the footsteps say that won't last for long. My cat ears strained under the bow, trying to pick up anything beyond us.

"Blake, what's going on? What do you think?" Yang asked.

"Shh." I closed my eyes for a moment. Five sets of footsteps. All bipedal. This has to be a group of five— No… More like a group of four running from a single person. And they're all running this way. My eyebrows furrowed. That can't be right. All the civilians should've been evacuated from Beacon Cliffs or in Beacon's safe zones, unless… unless this is a stray group who got lost and… Oh gods. They're being chased by a strong White Fang member!

I turned to look towards Yang and mouthed out, " _White Fang attacking civilians. Inside cafeteria._ "

The girl's eyes widened before she nodded. " _What do we do?_ " she mouthed back.

" _We need to get them to safety._ " I reloaded Gambol Shroud with practiced ease. " _We'll check together, then you distract while I get them. Good?_ "

Yang flashed the 'ok' sign, and together we moved up, creeping up to the walls before glancing into the building.

I gasped. The first thing I noticed was the group of four that burst through the door. Three girls and one guy. They weren't in civilian dress like I thought they would be. Instead, they wore Haven's uniform, which was all dirty and sooty. Likely from the running and chaos around them. Each of them had shallow cuts across their bodies. One girl had blood dripping down their leg from a blood-soaked bandage. That girl was being held up by one of her teammates.

I bit my lip. My gods… this was a student team pushed to their limits, and without their weapons as well. Who the hell is chasing them?

"Gods," the wounded girl gasped. She shifted her weight around another girl and looked back. Fear creeped into her voice. "This guy never stops! Nava, are you sure you stopped him in his tracks?"

The still standing girl nodded. This Nava was a dolphin Faunus, a dorsal fin sticking out of her neck. Her breaths were more like rasps at this point, and she could barely keep herself upright. She still managed to glance at her heavily wounded teammate. "I hit him with my strongest nerve shock. It's every ounce of energy I had. He caught it with his sword, but my Semblance attack should easily channel through the weapon. His nervous system should be firing off like firecrackers, there's no way he managed to absorb all of that and still follow us—"

Loud, clacking footsteps interrupted their conversation. Gasps escaped from their mouths as they backed away from the door. "Oh gods," the boy muttered. "He's a monster! There's no way he could've escaped Nava's Semblance!" The guy grabbed a loose piece of rebar and tossed it towards the wounded girl. "Guppi, take this and use it for a walking stick. We need to hide and hope to gods he passes by us. This man can't be stopped!"

"Terra, I can't hide when I have a trail of blood marking where I've been! We have to get to help now!" She turned to look at the girl carrying her. "Rhyme, you still good?"

Before the girl could answer her, a voice spoke out. "It doesn't matter. None of you are getting out of here alive." The air dropped a couple of degrees the moment I heard that voice. I felt goosebumps crawl up my skin. No way… there's no way he can possibly be here. He couldn't be… But I know my ears don't lie.

A tall man strutted into the cafeteria with an almost nonchalant attitude, his hand adjusting the detailed, Mistralian-designed mask on his face. His black trenchcoat floated behind him, loosely held to his body by two buttons. Red, flame-like rose thorns twisted and curled on various parts of his trench coat. He brushed back his dark red windswept spiky hair, his lips turning down at the sight of the team. Two small bull horns extended from the sides of his head. I can my heart racing with fear as I stared at him. He's finally caught up. He came back for me.

His fingers ran across the handle of his Wilt as Adam Taurus walked towards the frightened team, staring them down the entire time. They could only cry out in fear, backing up as my former partner got closer and closer to them. He cocked his head to the side. "Ah… Mistralian students… disgusting. For a Kingdom so revered for its culture, I've never seen a group of pathetic, disgusting cockroaches like this."

The students let out a yelp as their backs pressed up against a pile of rubble. Adam let out a sneer, tapping his weapon with his fingers as he continued forwards. "Did you think you can run away from the sins of the past? That those who let Faunus oppression continue can just… wash the blood off of your hands? Did you think that my people will forgive your ancestors' crimes?" He grabbed Blush and pulled it away from his belt. "I can hear the ghosts of my ancestors beg for blood. And I believe society is long overdue for a payment."

"Blake!" a voice hissed at me. I snapped over to Yang, the girl squeezing her fist. "Snap out of it! We need to distract that guy before he slaughters that team! We'll unload on this guy and buy the others time to escape—"

I shook my head with a fury. "We can't do that."

"Huh? Oh course we can, we have plenty of bullets—"

"You don't understand, Yang." I glanced through the window for just a moment. Still hasn't made a move yet. "This isn't an issue of ammo. If we shoot at him, he'll only get stronger." I leaned over to my partner. "He can absorb energy and redirect it in one, focused sword swipe. Think of it as your Semblance, but focused on ending a fight with one strike instead of a barrage. If we shoot at him, he'll kill everyone, including us!"

Yang's eyes widened. "Wait, but if that's the case—"

"Nava, no!" What the— I looked through the window again to see the dolphin Faunus run forwards, fists spark with lightning arcs - part of her Semblance, most likely. It was clearly an act of desperation. She couldn't have much power left, and everyone knew it. Including Adam.

With one leisurely movement, he gripped the handle of Wilt. A blink later, the whole world turned red and black. His sword arm was already up, displaying the crimson red blade in its full, horrific glory. This Nava girl staggered to the side a moment later, her left arm and a section of her torso just… falling away from her. There was nothing anyone can do but look. I remember back when I was his partner. Shock and awe, Adam would cite whenever someone asked about the move. It was to show overwhelming power. And looking from the other side of the blade, I can say that it definitely does that.

The color in the world returned to normal. A gasp escaped from Nava at the sight of her arm flying away, green Aura embers floating away from both her stump and her severed limb. A scream escaped her mouth a moment later as she stumbled and fell to the floor. Her body glowed green, yet the cracks were forming by the second. Her Aura can't possibly be enough to heal up a severed limb. There's no easy way to put this. She's done for.

Adam looked cooly at the fallen body, flicking his blade as if removing imaginary blood. He ignored the screams of despair from the rest of Nava's team. "That is for defending monsters. If there's anything I hate more than humans, it's race traitors. You could've had it all if you took up your duty of putting humanity in its place. But you decide to defend demons. Burn in hell with the rest of them, if that's what you want." He spat on the girl's body.

I heard the sounds of heavy breathing next to me. Yang's chest heaved back and forth, her eyes flashing red. "That monster… That mon— Umph!"

Before she could stand up and rush right in, I snatched her and wrapped my hand over her mouth. "Yang, stop it!" I hissed. "We're outmatched! Attacking him right now is suicide!"

"Whll wht whll we vu, ven?" Yang muffled. Her eyes still glowed red, but she quickly stopped struggling under me. I let her mouth go. "Well, what will we do, then? Leave him to kill more people?" I shook my head. She continued, "So we can't let him go, but apparently we can't distract him or attack him without being killed. What do you suggest we do, then?"

"I never said we weren't going to distract him." Yang shot me a look, as if to say 'really?' "What? I never disagreed with the distraction plan. But we need to hide the fact we're doing it." I brought out my Stand. "This is how we'll do it. I'll use  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  to get onto the ceiling while grabbing several chunks of rubble. I'll make it rain debris around him. While I do that, you go around and get the team away from Adam. As soon as we do that, we trap him here somehow. We'll need a team of actual Huntsmen to take down Adam, maybe bring in Ruby if we can. She can counter Adam's attack with her Stand. Got it?"

Yang grimaced at the thought before nodding. "I just hope we have enough time before it's too late." She let out a sigh. "Stay safe, Blake."

I nodded, my form already sinking into the wall while  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  floated towards a nearby piece of rubble. With a few deft swipes, she snatched up a decent pile of concrete chunks without even a hint of sound before pulling herself towards the ceiling. "Same goes to you."

With that, I dove into the wall proper, quickly making my way up to some exposed rebar sticking out where the ceiling would normally be. I glanced at the group of students opposite from where I am. They were petrified with fear. Guppi and Rhyme just stood there, eyes widening at their impending fate. The Terra guy, on the other hand, looked absolutely furious. I can see his body tense up, wanting to spring towards Nava but knowing what would happen if he did. He reminds me too much of Yang just a minute ago. If I don't act soon, he's going to do something reckless.

My hand snatched one of the metallic bars, and with a quick tug, I yanked myself out of the wall. Well, I won't let this guy pay for acting that way. If he's going to do something rash, I might as well help him out with that. I eyed the ceiling and its details. There are these solid bracket formations still standing… I'll use that to hide while  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  drops the rubble from the ceiling. As for Yang… I glanced out of one of the windows. She's still making her way around. She's keeping pace with me. Good.

I swung myself into the ceiling, crawled my way towards the other side before pulling myself behind a bracket. Adam hasn't done anything aside from swing his sword around, cowing the rest of the Mistralian team. What in the world is going on? Is he quietly gloating over the people he's going to kill? He's not the kind of person who enjoys watching people in terror. No, he considers himself a man of action. So unless he's changed, him standing there means— I bit my lip. There's no way… did he figure me out somehow?

My eyes narrowed. If he did… actually, he can't do a lot from here. Maybe he shifts Blush into his shotgun form and shoots at me, but unless he switched up the kind of shotgun round he normally uses, he should be using a mix between Dragon's breath and buckshot. Great for close distance, but the bearings become a lot less effective after five meters. Then they burn up completely after thirty meters. I think I'm just about thirty meters away, so he shouldn't be able to hurt me from where he is. There's no obvious way he can react knowing where I am. Even then, why do I feel so… uneasy?

**「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  appeared out of the ceiling, sliding her hands under a picture of the stored boulders. I'm just being paranoid. I shook my head. Again, there's no way Adam noticed me get over here, nevermind reacting in any meaningful way. I glanced over at the windows right as Yang got herself in place. She threw me a thumbs up. Well, it's now or never. The cat Stand yanked the boulders out from the ceiling and threw them down towards the man.

Adam let out a long, smooth sigh out of his mouth. "Blake, my darling… I knew that you would come back." My eyes widened. Huh? Adam twisted around in an instant, flicking his wrists around at the pile of concrete falling towards him. Wilt cleaved through them with ease, sending tiny bits of stone flying. The Mistralian team behind him screamed, luckily not attracting the man's attention.

I locked eyes with the masked man. Well, this plan didn't pan out. This was the worst case scenario. I sighed. There's no other choice, though.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  floated behind me. I need to fight him and keep his attention away from the other team long enough to get them out. I don't know how long I can hold up to him. Oh gods… Yang, please get them out as quickly as possible.

The man slid his crimson blade back into its sheath and smiled. "It's been too long, dear. I've missed you. I knew that no matter where you ran, you would eventually remember the truth—"

"Save it," I snapped. "I don't want to be any part of your 'truth.' Not when it causes this much pain and suffering."

"So you still insist on running, then… I'm disappointed." Adam shook his head. "Is that what this world turned you into? A coward, afraid of the commitment to bringing about the Faunus Dream, our dream? Why do you let your cowardice get the better of you?"

I frowned, balling my fist behind the bracket. "Why are you doing this? What point is there hurting civilians, hell, even other Faunus for the sake of Faunus equality?"

"Why would you try to keep certain parts of an inherently broken machine? No one tries to keep a broken toy if they can't fix what's hopelessly wrong with it. No, if it can't be fixed, you throw it out and get something that works better. Revolution can fix things, but it calls for sacrifice when we need a replacement. It asks that vengeance must be taken. We owe this world nothing, yet this world owes us everything. We are simply punishing the world for sins long since overdue. We are sating the calls for vengeance."

"No…" I shook my head. "This is foolish… Taking our revenge against humanity won't satisfy vengeance. It'll just move on to the humans, and it'll come back to bite you when you least expect it. We'll just create a cycle of hatred that won't stop until the Grimm kill us all."

"Darling, you overestimate the humans." Adam pressed the butt of the sheath against the ground. "They won't be able to do anything against us Faunus. We are empowered, we are strong, we are built to survive in the world of Remnant. Our species should've been the dominant species in the world to begin with. Humans, they cheated their way to the top, took our rightful place through wiliness and manipulation. Then they have the gall to think they can hold us down. But they can't. Especially when we unlock our hidden potential."

The bracket I merged with started… bubbling close to where my head would be. I glanced at the formation. The bubbling was the size of my handspan, which is maybe fifteen centimeters at most? My eyes narrowed. What in the world? As far as I know, Adam shouldn't be able to do this with his Semblance, which means— My eyes widened. Stand? First it was  **「** **REDBONE,** **」**  then it was  **「** **HOCUS POCUS,** **」**  now it's Adam… Oh my gods… The most radical White Fang members looking to destroy or subjugate humanity, all with Stands by their side. No wonder they decided to attack now.

At that moment I noticed a small point start to bulge out from the bubbling area. It grew without restraint, reaching a point where I think the surface is going to pop. Oh gods—

I threw my body back, barely clearing the bubbling surface right as a solid spike broke the surface of the bracket and shot right out, piercing the space where my head used to be. Oh my gods! I waved my arms out. Holy— What did Adam just do? My hand brushed against my forehead and felt something wet. He nicked me. Nothing my Aura can fix. But this structure… I flicked at the structure. It's concrete, just like the bracket it came out from. But it had a slight ringing to it, like it's hollow on the inside. I don't know if this can puncture through my flesh. Hopefully staying in 2D will keep me safe. A bead of sweat and blood dripped down my face. But whew… that was close. I don't want to think about what might happen if I reacted a second later.

One thing's for sure: I don't want to be here for another round. I pulled myself out of the bracket and into the wall. A quick look revealed the bracket to still be intact, aside from the giant spike jutting out from it, one that was already sinking back in. What in the world was that?

I pulled myself out and glanced behind Adam. The Mistralian team still hasn't moved. Yang's definitely in the cafeteria, but she's being cautious, doing everything she can to not attract attention. Okay, not bad. Just have to dive back in before— Why does the surface feel weird all of a sudden? I looked behind me and saw the bubbling. Oh gods, I need to go—

「SANDE MOUNTAINS」 moved, pulling me out right as several spikes flew out. I winced and let out a hiss, the thorns piercing through my left shoulder and thigh. Agh! One further jerk from my Stand sent me tumbling to the ground. There! He did it again. But what in the world is that? My mind couldn't land on any satisfactory answer.

My lips wavered as my Aura pulled my open wounds shut. "What… was that? Adam, what did you do?"

"You should know better than anyone else. After all, you have the power as well. But if you insist…"

A Stand appeared behind him, all but confirming my suspicions. Its legs were like stone pillars, with these limestone-esque spikes jutting up and away from it. No… at a second glance, the Stand's legs aren't stone, but covered in it. It seemed styled after the fabled Mayan warriors historians believed lived on Remnant at one point in time. In fact, it wore Mayan-like stone armor, without the headdress. Its actual body was plant-like in structure, almost like a tree trunk. It's easy to see the bark-like thorns where there are exposed 'skin,' for lack of a better word. A tiny stem connected its torso to an oversized poppy bud. Two rows of droplet-esque frog eyes blinked at me, sending shivers down my body.

"My love, meet the specter that granted me these powers. This is my Stand,  **「** **WARFLOWER.** **」**  Have you ever heard of the hairy frog?" The man adjusted the weapon in his hands. "It has an ingenious yet ruthless defense mechanism. It can break its own bones and jut them out from their skin, where it can penetrate their predator. Think of my Stand working the same way. I 'break' the supports of an object and create tower spikes out of them." He smiled. "My Stand is a beautiful thing, don't you think, my darling?"

"You're insane." I glanced behind Adam. The Mistralian team had finally moved. Terra managed to grab Nava and her arm in the chaos, carrying her body while the other two girls were limping their way towards the exit, Yang offering another shoulder for Guppi to hold on to. They're not even close to getting out. I need them to get out of here now.

I took in a deep breath. "Yang! Grab Nava and get the others out of here now! I'll hold Adam off!" I broke into a sprint, trying to close the distance between me and Adam.

At that, Adam turned around and spotted the retreating group. He let out a growl. "You… Did you really think they'll get away from me?" He snatched the hilt of his sword. "They're not going anywhere—"

**「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  shot towards Adam, extending her claws. "WAOU!" My ex-partner turned around before letting out a gasp. He swung his blade at my Stand… and it went through her without dealing any damage whatsoever. That's it! The opportunity that I needed. He might have a Stand, but he doesn't understand everything about it yet. I couldn't help but feel a bit of confidence bloom within my chest. It's over!

"RARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA—" Adam grunted, throwing his hands up at the barrage of claws flying toward his face. Not that it'll do that much. Already splotches of blood flew all over the cafeteria floor as more and more cuts accumulated on his arms. I narrowed my eyes. He's taking the blows a lot better than a lot of other users… That can't be right. Something has to be off about this. There's no way Adam should be able to tank all of those Stand hits that well.

Wait a minute, where did his Stand go? Did he possibly… there's no way he managed to master Stand control that quickly. Arslan said it herself in a text to us, it took her years to gain the level of control that she managed to get, and even then she's not the best at it. The only other way he could've possibly mastered his Stand so quickly is through the intensity of his viciousness. What was it Arslan about most Stand users? They have a moral limit that stops their powers from going amok. A person without any moral limit can use their Stand and its ability to its fullest extent. There's no way… Did Adam really reach that level of depravity?

Something moved on the ground. What the— My eyes flickered to the floor just in time to see a bubbling surface rush toward me. Before I could register the threat in front of me, the ground burst open, sending a concrete tower toward my torso. Oh gods! I threw myself to the side. Instead of piercing me through the stomach, it grazed my rib. Still, the sheer force of the impact definitely cracked it. I gritted my teeth, holding in a scream. Gods, that hurt!

I staggered to the right, a groan escaping my mouth. My hand ran over the spot where he hit me. A shallow groove sat across the left side of my torso. Already it started swelling with blood. Okay… that wasn't as bad as it could have been.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  returned to me, claws retracted and fists ready to counter whatever Adam planned on throwing at me next. Across from me, Adam looked a bit worse than before. The sleeves of his trench coat were ruined, at least. And his arms had blood dripping down them.

But instead of wincing or doing anything along those lines, the bull Faunus gave me a smile. It didn't look like he even broke a sweat aside from the blood.  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  appeared out of his body a moment later, flexing its muscles before floating in its place behind him.

"The humans really taught you well, huh," he started. "They taught you how to fight just like them. Like cowards!" The ground started to bubble up again. I looked around me. Oh gods, it's everywhere! Behind me, in front of me, even under my feet! Adam continued, "You might be the woman I loved, Blake, but you're corrupted with human sin. You let human lies fill your mind, they tricked you into turning away from the right path! But it's not too late! Give up the humans, and come back to me!"

"No!" I yelled back.

"… Fine." The ground bulged out, with hundreds of points just ready to burst through the surface. Adam sighed. "Die with the others, then." I shot a glare at him. That won't happen, not on my watch.

I threw myself into the air right as every single point jutted out from the ground, shooting towards me from every single position. While they were as thin as needles, it'll be more than enough to kill me if I fall into them.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  flew out, grabbing a boulder the size of my head before throwing it up at me. It was an insane plan. I had no idea if it would work. But by gods, I needed to try.

The boulder drifted to the right of me. That's good enough. I slapped the passing rock with my bare hand, sinking it right into its surface. My body flew along with it a moment later, pulling me out from the spike trap right as it shot up towards the ceiling, smashing another hole into it in the process. I winced at the spike column I was flying away from. Oh gods… good thing I wasn't in there when it finally came up. I don't want to know what would've happened to me if I didn't throw a boulder at myself.

With a firm tug, I pulled my hand out from the boulder and landed with a quiet roll behind some debris. I let out a sigh as the boulder crashed into the wall a moment later. Calm down… think everything through. I called back my Stand and let my Aura do its work.

Okay, I'm away from Adam and his  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  now. Now what? I closed my eyes and hummed. If everything went well, Yang must've escaped with the Mistralian team by now. Now it's just one Stand user versus another. Which thinking about it now, turned out to be an extremely bad idea.

"Blake?" My cat ears picked up the sound of Adam's voice calling from a distance. His voice was sinister in tone. "Where are you, my love? I know you managed to get away. But I also know you're just hiding. Are you going to keep on running? I'll paint this world red with blood if it meant I'll be with you forever! I'll follow you to the ends of Remnant!" So he doesn't know where I am. Okay… that should buy me some time to think.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Gods, his Stand ability… how am I going to fight against that? He can create spikes out of any substance in his disposal. I can merge into a surface. and that's really it.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  just isn't a Stand for fighting. Not in the slightest. He has all of the advantages in the world.

Oh, gods… I pressed the back of my head against the loose concrete.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」** disappeared, allowing my Aura to take over my body and start repairs. Oh boy… I can feel my Aura strain. After the fight with the Cupid and Adam, it might not hold out for much longer.

Right now… I could use another Stand user to help out. Like Ruby, with her flower petals negating Adam's advantage, or Weiss with her Dust crystals. Hell, Jaune might even be able to limit the size of the spikes, giving us more room to work with. There's definitely no way I can do this on my own. I need help.

"Whew, good thing I made it in time," someone whispered. My eyes widened. I turned my head to the side to see Yang crawl toward me, the Arrow hanging from one of the belt loops in her shorts. "You're not looking too good."

"Yang?" I hissed. "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to get to the airships?"

"I did." Yang tilted her head in confusion. "I dropped off team GRNT at the landing pads and got some paramedics to transport them out. Then I came back to get you."

"Why? He's not going to leave us alone, not when he knows that I'm here in Beacon. He'll just follow us back to the landing pads and cause more damage, or even worse, he'll cause havoc in Vale until I come out of hiding." I held out my hand the moment Yang opened her mouth. "Don't say you'll fight with me. You know that you're not in any position to fight Adam, or any Stand user for the matter. He'd kill you in the worst way possible and wouldn't even blink. So why come back?"

"Because I'm not someone who abandons family!" my partner hissed out. Her face froze for a moment before turning forlorn. "I'm not going to abandon anyone, no matter how hard it gets. I can't look myself in the mirror if I did that." I glanced at the ground. That's right… This is someone who kept digging into Ruby's situation until she stumbled into all of this. Someone who loathed everything her mother did, and refused to stoop down to that level. There's no way I'm going to convince her to leave us to fight the Stands.

A sigh escaped my mouth. "Well, what about other help?" I gestured to no one in particular. "What happened to Huntsmen backup or— or the other users?"

"Blake… it's only us. Port and Oobleck are probably still on the Amity trying to help get the civilians off the stadium. The rest of the Stand users are probably there as well, which includes Ruby. And I just saw the Headmaster and Professor Goodwitch leave to defend the city. His Bullhead took off the moment I reached the pads. I didn't even get the chance to  _show_  the Arrow to him. And Professor Peach is doing her absolute best to keep the dolphin Faunus girl alive. There's no one else. We're the only ones who  _can_  stop Adam at the moment."

A sharp exhale escaped my throat as I closed my eyes. One Stand user and one non-Stand user vs a Stand user who is willing to kill us without a hint of remorse. How in the world are we going to stop Adam? If we attack him with his Stand up, he could most likely push us back with his swordsmanship alone before using  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  on us until we run out of energy and Aura. Then he'll go in for the kill. Just like what happened to the Mistralian team.

However, if we attack him with his Aura up, there's the same risk of before with him outfighting us. We can't fall back and just shoot at him until his Aura drops to zero; we risk him absorbing enough energy to cleave through us if we do that. We both saw what happened to Nava back there; Aura isn't going to save us from one of his moonbeam strikes. We can try and trap him in the cafeteria, but will we have the time to send this place crumbling down? I gritted my teeth. It's almost like he's invincible, no matter which form he's in when we attack him! If an entire team couldn't fight against Adam, what are the odds we can?

The gears in my mind started to turn. But then again… they were a team of four with no idea of what a Stand is. We are two Stand-aware individuals fighting against one. Yang might not be able to see the Stands, but she can feel when they're being summoned and when they're being called back. So maybe we  _can_  fight a war of attrition.

My eyes shot open. "I think I have an idea. Yang, you know how you can tell when a Stand is being summoned, right?" She nodded her head. I continued, "We can use that to our advantage. Here's my idea: when we run out, I call out what form he's in at that moment. If he has his Stand out, I'll distract him while you sneak in a shot from the back. Then we trade. So you distract, then I shoot. If he has his Aura up, you try to go for hit and runs. One strong punch to the torso, then back away. I'll hold him back; I can hold against him in a swordfight. Do whatever you can to break his Aura. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, we'll break through and stop him once and for all."

Yang nodded, smiling as she checked Ember Celica. "Gotcha. Ready to do this, partner?"

I nodded, hopping up to a crouch before getting into a sprinting position, similar to a runner's starting position in a race. "I'll count down by hand." I held three fingers up. "Ready?"

"More than ever."

One by one, each outstretched finger dropped into my palm. The moment I reached zero, I rushed out from behind the pile of debris— only to gasp as Adam appeared roughly seven meters away from me, Blush in his hand and pointed at me. Oh gods.

A ball of flames spewed out from his weapon. I can see every ignited bearing flying towards me, ready to scorch my skin. That's not going to happen. The moment they touched my skin, a shadow clone formed in my place, sending me rolling towards my former partner. The blazing shotgun blast roared above me, quickly dissipating into nothing. I rolled back up to my feet and continued toward him, drawing and gripping both blades of Gambol Shroud in my hands.

He didn't as much as let out a grunt of surprise when I smashed the cleaver into his gun hand, sending Blush flying away from the two of us. Wilt flew up in an instant, locking with my katana before it can bite into his skin. I looked around. No Stand in sight. "Aura!" I yelled.

"Why yes, I have my Aura up. Astute observation you made there, darling," Adam whispered to me. I can feel my muscles shaking as we struggled to push through each other's attack. "It's not going to mean anything if you're all alone, you know. I'll give you another chance. Anything for my  _princess_." I winced hearing him emphasize the word. "Give up on the humans. Join back up with the White Fang."

"Oh, she's not joining anything." Adam staggered toward me a moment later, groaning in pain when a moment later, Yang threw a strong cross punch straight to the head. I leaped at the opportunity, pushing him to the side and letting him stumble past me before following up with two swings from the blades of Gambol Shroud.  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  shot out as well, clawing at the exposed man's back with fury."

"RARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA—"

"MUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMU—"  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  appeared behind him, throwing several punches of its own. Blood shot out from the fists of  **「** **WARFLOWER,** **」**  quickly followed by blood spurts appearing on Adam's knuckles. However, to my surprise, his Stand was actually pushing me back. What the—

"Blake, out of the way!" I dropped to the floor, giving Yang a full view of Adam.

That must've been enough warning for the bull Faunus. Right as Yang fired off the gun, a pillar of concrete formed behind Adam and took most of the blast of the shotgun. A few stray bearings managed to make it through however, buckshot slamming into his back and causing him to stagger again. He let out a bloody cough as tiny spurts of blood flew in the air. I narrowed my eyes. Despite that, I can see the bearings inside his body. They made it maybe a centimeter through him? I gritted my teeth, shooting up to my feet. It might be enough damage to use up a significant amount of Aura, but not enough to turn the tide.

My eyes turned toward the pillar, leading me to gasp. The tower looked fine. Granted, there were a couple of holes and cracks within the structure, but new concrete started to fill them in before my very eyes. No way! How is it doing that? In fact, how did it hold so well? The tower's diameter was a meter at most. Yang has blasted bigger holes in thicker structures. This shouldn't be a problem for her to smash through, and yet it's like Yang almost did nothing at all. What's causing this?

"MOOOOOOOOOO!" Before I could blink,  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  managed to slip past my Stand's raised arms, landing a solid hit in the chest. I spat out blood, heaving as I felt a crater form right under my breasts.

"Oh gods, Blake!" Yang started toward me.

"Yang, don't worry about me!"  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  quickly struck back at the poppy Stand, forming a long line horizontally across its face. The bull Faunus winced, letting out a pained hiss. The crimson liquid filled up his mask. "Strike him now!"

A wall of pillars formed around his body the moment those words left my mouth, sealing him away from us. The tower didn't extend that high, though: it's maybe five meters at most. Is he getting exhausted? I called back my Stand. We need to break through before he can properly recover. Something tells me we're not going to do much shooting through the wall, but… I gestured to Yang, jabbing my fingers towards the tower wall before mouthing, " _Reload and get ready. Punch him when he appears._ "

I threw myself into the wall, diving into it as  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  reappeared. I started pulling myself up to the lip of the cylinder. We might not be able to break down this wall due to his Stand ability, but that doesn't mean we won't be able to just throw him out. If I'm careful, I can slip past him and knock him out.

My head just went over the lip. He's not looking at me. He doesn't have his Stand out. If anything, he still has his back towards us. My mind is screaming that it's a trap. There's no way this isn't one. I'm just going to have to make this quick. I swam down, sending  **「** **SANDE MOUNTAINS** **」**  towards him as I brought the barrel of Gambol Shroud out. I narrowed my eyes. What the—

Adam glanced up at me, giving me a creepy grin. At this point, I noticed Wilt submerged into the ground, lightning shooting up through the blade. It absolutely glowed with energy. I can't believe it… he stabbed the ground and created his own energy! I jerked back as my Stand changed her grab to a punch. Oh gods, I have to do something now—

He swung up, sending the world into a monochrome red and black palette. I looked down in shock. With a single swing, he cleaved straight through the wall where my torso would be. There was an open gap where his sword made contact. While thankfully I haven't been bisected horizontally, there were only a couple inches of flesh connecting both sides of me. Blood started dripping down the surface. There's no way… He couldn't have possibly hurt me while I'm in my 2D form… right? Adam's face said it all. I felt myself grow pale. Oh gods. Get out of here, Blake.

I swam through the hole, appearing on the other side of the tower. A gasp escaped my mouth a second later when I looked down at myself. The damage to my torso's still there on my image. And the blood… wow, there's a lot of it. I felt myself start to go lightheaded. I can't believe it. Someone can still hurt me if they destroy the object I'm merged with… I wish I knew that earlier.

"Blake!" I found myself falling into someone's arms. Huh? Did I dive out? Who's talking to me? The person pulled me back towards… somewhere. The voice— It's Yang— She's pulling me away from the tower, and for some reason, she has one arm around my chest and the other between my legs. Not like in a dirty way, but like… like she was trying to hold something without it falling apart. I would object, but I can't really… focus.

She finally placed me on the ground, behind something. "Blake, stay awake, stay awake!" Yang started tapping my cheek. I blinked. She continued, "Oh gods, your Aura… There's no way it can heal that cut." She yanked her scarf off and started wrapping it around my torso. "Blake, listen to me. You have to hold on. If you see light at the end of a tunnel, don't go there! I'll get you out of here, towards Peach. She'll help us somehow. You'll be okay, just don't let go. No matter what, you need to keep your eyes open!"

The sounds of erupting registered in my ears, followed by a tower appearing a couple of meters from us. Yang yelped, pulling my body away from the tower. "You're not going to get away from me!" Adam roared. "I'll kill you before you take my love away!"

"Oh gods, I can't tell when the towers come up," my partner muttered. "I can't run away, but I can't fight him either." She started shaking. "Come on… Think, Yang. Think!"

"Yang…" I grabbed her by the belt. "Run…"

"No! You'll be killed!"

I shook my head. "Won't… kill me… Will… kill you. Don't… want that."

"No… I can't, I just can't do it. I can't leave you here." Her eyes went to my hand before they widened. "That's it… " She grabbed my hand and pulled away, revealing the Arrow. My eyes grew into saucers. No…

Before I could protest, she took the Arrow and took it out. "Blake… I need to see the Stand. You're in no condition to fight. We have no other options, and I can't get us out of here when I can't even see what he's doing. This is the only choice I have." She turned the Arrow around, aiming for her heart. "I won't let you down, Blake. Just hold on for a little bit longer." I tried reaching out for her. Yang… you won't wake up in time. Don't—

Yang thrust the Arrow into her heart, allowing it to pierce through her skin. A scream escaped from her mouth a moment later as her chest erupted into flames.

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 8/31/2018**

* * *

**Russel's Bizarre Adventure - Act 1**

"Hey, give me your hand!"

I stuck my hand out towards a man in his fifties, who finally made their way to the edge. I have to admit, I'm impressed. This guy managed to climb up ten or so meters, from the bottom of the chasm to the top with superficial wounds at worst. Granted, it was with the help of some rescue rope. But still, not everybody can do something like that at his age. Although considering the position he's in, I'm pretty sure anyone would push themselves if it meant escaping from a Grimm horde.

With a shaky nod, he snatched my wrist. I pulled him up with little issue, setting him on the ground and brushing him off as best as possible. "Whew, that was close. Are you okay? Can you walk?" Again, the man nodded. "Alright. Stay calm, you're going to be okay, sir. There's a transport truck over there." I jabbed a finger in the general direction of the truck. "Get on there and get to a Grimm bunker as quickly as you can, okay?" The man nodded and quickly merged with the crowd of people waiting for transport out.

"Hey, Russel!" Cardin yelled. I looked left. The muscular boy waved towards me. "Is that the last of them?"

I let out a loud grunt as I let out a long sigh and dusted my hands off. "Let me check in with the others." I glanced at the Atlesian soldiers around the hole and furrowed my brow. Agh, it's  _these guys._  Can't believe they finally decided to come down when everyone's dying. "Hey," I said with gritted teeth. "You see anyone else down there?"

"Don't see any other heat signatures down there," one of them reported. A frown appeared on his face. "We got everyone who could be alive down there, that's for sure. Us Atlesians will move in to get the hole patched in before the inkies— I mean the Grimm come flooding in."

"Thanks."

"No prob. Say, you know when we'll get real Huntsmen—"

I ignored him, turning towards my team leader and walking away. Real Huntsmen, pfft. As if we're not real enough for you. I shook the thought away. "Yeah! That should be everyone!"

"Alright, wait here! I'll get Dove and Sky!"

I nodded, brushing sweat off of my forehead and feeling my chest rise and fall as I stood at the edge of the hole. My anger towards the soldiers started to melt away, replaced by fear. Staring into what looks like a bottomless chasm: turns out, not a great idea.

Oh gods… I don't think anyone was expecting this. One moment my team and I walked down streets filled with people and cheerful celebration in Church Plaza… the next, the street erupted in a cloud of concrete, and an eleven-meter wide hole swallows up a chunk of people. My eyes flickered to the dried blood around the hole; my ears listen to the agonized cries of the injured to the side.

I— I need to take a walk. My feet started shuffling away from the dark pit. I don't really care where I go, just not here. My mind went off on a tangent. These explosions… they can't be due to an accident. I can smell the Dust after scent, and it's potent. Somebody, somehow, meant for this to happen. But who would that be? My forehead furrowed. I'm betting it's the White Fang. Disgusting animals. I wouldn't expect anything less from feral savages—

My more sane self mentally slapped me in the face. Don't judge, Russel! You're better than that. All of CRDL is better than that. It's like what Professor Peach said during Faunus sensitivity training: you can't let frustration and anger towards the actions of a few affect everyone you meet. My eyes flickered down to the ground. But at the same time… I don't know where to turn those feelings. I can't just let a crime like this go. But no matter where I look, there's always someone I can't be angry at. And after what happened during the break day… I can't afford to be angry at myself, lest I hurt more people. So what do I do?

"Delta reporting in." Huh? I turned towards a nearby soldier in green, who had approached a nearby military officer. Wait a minute, when did I get here? I blinked a couple of times. Sleek, metallic barricades sat at the mouth connecting Tex Street with the plaza. There were three sets: one that went up to a person's waist, another just three meters tall, and the last one six meters high. Actually, the last barricade feels a lot more like they built a wall and just plopped it right at the intersection.

In fact, there are soldiers sticking out above the big barricade, standing atop what I assume have to be platforms. There was a passageway for vehicles to go through, but a solid steel door made sure no Grimm could get in. I let out a whistle. Wow… these guys look like they're ready for war. But why? Did they really expect a situation like this to happen, and bring this much firepower? I narrowed my eyes. Could it be a false flag— no, stop with the conspiracies, me! Don't assume, watch and think it through. Don't let yourself fly off the handle when you don't know everything yet.

I glanced back at the Delta soldier guy and his officer, I suppose. Despite the formal appearances, this meeting felt… anxious. The officer nodded. "At ease. What do you have for me, Delta?"

"I've received the initial pictures of the explosion zones, each taken courtesy of the airmen above." Delta held up a scroll tablet, which I couldn't see from where I am. "Each explosion took place at constant intervals, starting with the explosion that took down the southeast wall right next to the residential areas."

The soldier cleared his throat. "From there, there are four additional explosions. There are two within the residential district: one in Periwinkle Park and one relatively close to Signal. We have two more within the commercial district: one near an entrance of the intercity highway and one here in Church Plaza."

He continued, "Valean government officials are especially concerned about this breach. Church Plaza is situated close to the edge of the Historical-Governmental District. The Council and their designated survivors are still in the process of evacuating the city. As such, we're effectively their last line of defense. If Fenix Hall and the government fall to the Grimm, that would deal a terrible blow to the morale of the Valean people."

"So, we're in an absolute mess. Well, at least we have the 'bots to secure the perimeter." The officer took in a deep breath, sighing as he lit a cigarette. "How many Atlesian Knights did the General assign to this location?"

"Sir… none." I blinked, my jaw dropping hearing that. Say what?

The cigarette fell from his mouth. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that correctly. Are you saying that we don't have any support from the android army?"

"That's precisely what I'm saying. The Knights are still in quarantine. There are some good news regarding the manner, though. I've been getting reports that our engineers are attempting to set up a completely isolated control center with electronics… 'liberated' from Vale. If they pull it off, they can get the Knights up and running again, albeit in a less efficient manner."

The officer stroked his chin. "Well, why then aren't we getting any reinforcements then—"

"The General made the order to send the bulk of the mechanical army to take back the southeast wall as well as prevent the Residential District and the highway system from falling once they come back online. The rest of the soldiers are to simply surround and hold off the Grimm until that happens." Delta pressed against the side of his helmet. "With that being said, I'm hearing radio chatter that the highway team has just made first contact. At this rate, we'll expect a large horde to arrive at this location within fifteen to thirty minutes from now."

"… What types of Grimm are we expecting to see?" the officer growled.

"We've received reports of Beowolves, Ursai, and Creep appearing from other breach holes. Additional seismic activity indicates that there must be a King Taijitu lurking underground somewhere. Then of course, there's the Griffins and Nevermores flying above. Forces at the breached wall reported Goliaths and Deathstalkers, but they're holding them back. We shouldn't expect them to be here."

"Horde types… a match in heaven with a limited amount of men," the officer groaned. He looked around the plaza and the mass of civilians still waiting for extraction. "How long do we have until first contact?"

"Like I said sir, fifteen minutes. At most thirty."

The officer cursed under his breath. "That's not nearly enough time to evacuate everyone. What can we do to protect the populace…? Gah, this situation is FUBAR. Gods…" He started tapping his foot. "What to do, what to do…"

He glanced back up at the soldier addressing him and sighed. "Delta, head over to the crowd of civilians. Take as many able-bodied individuals as you can and get them to create a wall around the breach. Use whatever you can to get that wall built. Cars, furniture, scrap metal around the area: I don't care where it comes from. If it can delay the Grimm, throw it into the wall."

"Sir… without due offense, it is our responsibility to guard the Valean civilians. We cannot in good faith order them to fight the Grimm—"

"We got no other choice, Delta. We can't fend off the Grimm, build up defenses, and evacuate the civilians all at the same time. Hell, we don't have any building material left to start up the barricade. If we get someone else to build the defenses, the soldiers can focus on fighting. That's the only solution that keeps the most people alive." My eyes widened hearing that. I can't believe what this guy's saying. He wants the civilians to fight? The officer rubbed his eyes, the orbs seemingly sinking deeper into their sockets. "Leave a skeleton crew on the outside barricades, make sure no aerial Grimm divebomb us. As for the rest of the soldiers, make sure they guard the civilians with their lives."

"… Understood, sir." The soldier nodded, turning around, only to meet my eyes. I twitched. Oh boy, did he realize that I was listening to their conversation the whole entire time? Maybe I should walk away before he does something—

"Just what I needed." The man ran up to me. "You must be a Huntsmen, right?" My eyebrows flew up. Wha?

I nodded my head. "What's it to ya?"

He gave me a nod of his good. "Good. I have something to ask of you, if you don't mind. I need you to do something. I need you to talk to the civilians of Vale and get them to help build a wall around the breach."

Displeasure quickly grew on my face. "Really? Ask me to ask them to do your work? I don't know about you, but if you didn't notice already, people aren't exactly willing to help out—"

"Please understand. The people aren't going to listen to an Atlesian. I've been paying attention to the conversations Valean people had this past month, and don't think I can't read your tone. No one has any trust in us, unwarranted as I think that may be. But they should trust you, a Huntsmen."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "And how can I believe that you're doing what's best for my people?"

The man took in a deep breath. "You don't. You are free to believe that we have ulterior intentions or that our rationale is flawed or that we don't like you. It honestly isn't the first time I've heard that, nor will it be the last. I only ask that you believe that it's our job to defend the people of Vale, just as it is your job. And regardless of feelings, we will uphold the job and not do anything that would indicate otherwise." Delta looked up. "We don't have much time. Think about it. I have to keep radio contact with the other groups. Make the right decision"

As he left, my mind whirled in thought. Should I do it? Okay, that sounded a lot worse in my head than I thought. Still, do I believe his word? Does he, and consequently his officer really believe that staying here will keep more of my people alive than if we evacuate? I gritted my teeth. Gods, it logically makes the most sense. But at the same time, the plan basically is asking for trouble from the populace. Is the risk worth it? Do I trust these guys with my people's lives?

"Russel!" The rest of my teammates approached me, their weapons already in tow. "Hey, what's going on?" Sky asked. "The Grimm are coming any moment now, we need to get out there and fight back! I already got yours! Come on, let's go!"

I balled my fist up. "No," I responded. "We need to defend this place."

"Huh?" Cardin stepped forward. "Dude, we can just leave that to the metalheads. We're better off in the field, taking down those monsters—"

"Look," I said, cutting my team leader off. "I've listened to the Atlesians, they can't evacuate the civilians on time and fight off the Grimm at the same time. If we leave, everyone here is going to die."

"Seriously?" Cardin furrowed his eyebrows. "Gods… well then. That… really complicates things. Geez, didn't expect the Atlesian army to be this weak." He rested his mace on his shoulder. "Well, I wouldn't mind showing these guys how things work in Vale, then." He gestured to us. "Come on. Let's do this—"

"And one more thing. We need to convince the civilians to help build an internal barricade between the breach and the civilians."

Everyone stopped in place hearing that. "… Say what?" Cardin asked.

"They need every hand they can get, and the only place to get them is—"

"Our civilians? What, are these guys nuts? Why did they think that using civilians is a good idea?"

"I thought that, too! They shouldn't! But it's do or die. Backs to the wall, nowhere to turn! People will die before we can evacuate everybody. But if we can secure the safety of the civilians now… it's our best chance."

Cardin tsked. "Oh boy, this is going to be a mess. Fine, I'll try to do something. Come on, guys. Let's go." He muttered under his breath, "I swear, if this goes wrong…"

Me too, Cardin. A bead of sweat slipped down my face. This is one hell of a bet we're making. I hope to gods this doesn't go south.

**=TBC=**


	44. Warflower - Part 2

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake told me about the pain that came after being hit by the Arrow. Ruby said the pain was like her body was breaking down, muscles spasming and moving as her body broke away into nothingness. Weiss described it like a chill seeping into her very bones. As for Blake, she compared her experience to being buried by the weight of the entire world. I never thought for a moment that I would ever have to go through what they've gone through. Well, until now.

"AGH!" I screamed, my chest erupting into flames. Wha— I'm burning! I'm on fire! Agh— I flailed around. It feels like my soul, my very being is on fire! I tried swatting the flame away, but no matter what I did, it wouldn't extinguish itself.

I grabbed the arrow shaft sticking out of my chest. No matter how much I pulled, the Arrow stayed stuck in my chest. If anything, my struggle pushed it through even further, its arrowhead breaking through my sternum and piercing through my heart. I took a sharp breath. Oh gods, having my heart beat with something through it feels  _weird._  It doesn't feel right, it's so unnatural. If I didn't already know that Blake survived an Arrow through the throat, I'd be convinced that I'm a dead woman walking.

Stupid me… why didn't I just run the arrowhead across my wrist or something like that? Why did I stab myself in the heart?

A gasp escaped from my mouth before I dropped to a knee. My chest was starting to throb, each pulse sending shutters throughout my body. This isn't good. Every breath I took grew shallower. Darkness crept into my peripheral vision. It feels like… like I'm dying. Did I overestimate myself? My hand slapped against the cement. Maybe I'm not supposed to be a Stand user after all…

… No. That doesn't matter. I don't know how long I have left until my body fails me. But there's no way I'm going to lose consciousness. I'm going to stay up! I'm going to stop that… that monster! My eyes shifted red with rage and determination. I'm going to get Blake out!

I staggered back to my feet, the pain of my chest throbs dulling as my Semblance started working its magic. Wait, my Semblance? That's not right… my Semblance absorbs kinetic energy from hits and uses that to boost my body strength. It doesn't dull pain. Maybe it's adrenaline, or maybe my Aura? But at the end of the day, does the explanation matter? I'm not in constant pain anymore. I'm not going to complain about how it's happening.

Crimson eyes flickered back up. I'm still in the cafeteria. Oh, thank gods for that. I don't know what I was going to do if I was having a fever dream like everyone else did. Blake and I would've been screwed if that was the case. That creep would've won for sure.

But it's strange… why isn't it happening to me? The fever dream everyone else had. I waved a finger through the large, flickering flame burning from my heart. The pain… Everyone fainted from the pain the Stand Arrow inflicted upon them. But something is taking the edge off, keeping me from collapsing. That might be the only reason why I'm still standing. I wiped the sweat off of my brow. Luck. I completely lucked out. I don't want to think about how close this was to going all wrong.

I turned back around, looking at a surprised Blake. To say that she's not in great shape would be a massive understatement. I already dressed her wound with my scarf, hiding the true damage underneath. I winced. Underneath that orange fabric, her body's nearly sliced in two, with only a strip of flesh keeping her together. I held back a gag remembering her guts nearly falling out when I dragged her to safety.

And the blood— Oh gods. She managed to paint a solid red line of blood the size of her waist from the concrete tower to here. If her Aura hadn't taken over right then and there, she would've been as good as dead. Thank gods that she's safe here, even if she's not in great condition.

I gingerly lifted Blake up. Her blood's not dripping through my scarf… yet. I need to move my partner somewhere safe. I stared at the blood trail leading to our location. There's no doubt the bull Faunus knows where we are. Hell, he sent an attack in our general direction! There's no doubt that he's going to act soon. I started moving towards a nearby window and set Blake outside the cafeteria, behind some shrubbery. It should do as a hiding spot. Hopefully, no one will find her here.

Which leaves one thing to worry about: Adam. I bit my lip. Even without the Arrow's help, I at least know that he can create these tower spike things from any kind of material. If everything works like it should, then I should be able to see  _how_  that works and how I can avoid it. I should have a fighting chance to survive now. I moved back to the pile of debris, Ember Celica cocked and raring for a brawl. Here goes nothing.

"Hey!" I yelled, shooting out from behind the debris. The man eyed me, giving me a listless stare. "You said how you wanted to kill me and every other human?" I threw my hands out, trying to ignore the flames fluttering right above my chest. "Well, here I am! Come at me if you can!"

He let out a chuckle. "Now, there's the arrogance I expected from you humans." He tapped the pommel of his sheathed katana. "I don't see what Blake sees in your race. But if you really want to die—" His hand wrapped around its hilt. "— Then come forwards. Be my guest."

A figure flashed behind him for an instant before disappearing. I shivered, eyes widening by the second. I can't make out any features. If anything, it's completely transparent. But the shiver doesn't lie. He brought out his Stand. I bit my lip. So… That's a Stand? Why can't I see it? Do I need more time for the Arrow to take effect?

I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute. Just that flash is more information than before. Even if I can't tell what  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  looks like exactly, I  _do_ know what form this guy's in without Blake's help. I don't know how far that can get me with only Ember Celica by my side, but the odds are starting to even out. I'm not quite as vulnerable as before. But I can't stand here thinking forever. I have to act now.

The ground in front of me started to bubble the moment I stepped forward. What the— I stepped back. That shouldn't be happening. The ground doesn't bubble like that. Right as I finished that thought, the ground started to bulge up. My eyes widened. The spikes!

Ember Celica roared, launching me back just as a wave of thorns shot out from the ground. Bubbling surfaces… that's where the spikes will be. That… actually makes his Stand ability more predictable than I thought it would be. He has to telegraph his attacks, and he can't do a thing about it.

The moment my feet touched the ground, I leaped to the side, breaking into a sprint as the bubbling started following me. The sounds of grinding concrete pillars erupting from the ground registered in my ears. Knowing where and when he'll attack is nice, sure. But I need more if I want to win against Adam. It's the spikes themselves, I think. There's something keeping it together regardless of damage. They eventually reform themselves when they get hit, and only breaks up with direct impact… What could possibly be happening that could cause all this to happen?

"Is that really the best thing you can do against my  **「** **WARFLOWER?** **」** " Adam yelled out from afar. "Don't make me laugh. What an absolutely pathetic showing." I ignored him, focusing on solving the mystery of his Stand.

A hum escaped my mouth between tired breaths. Something tells me it's not nearly as hard as I think it is. I glanced behind me, watching as the bumbling 'pool' formation spilled over all forms of surfaces. Fire, concrete, metal, electricity, pools of water… no matter what the bubbles cross over, they never fail to create a spike out of everything.

Hmm… Maybe… maybe the Stand just forces a surface to stay in the shape of the spike. The spike shouldn't fall apart unless Adam wants it to. That's why it's holding up.

However, if the tower was made out of some other material instead of steel or concrete… will it break on impact? I fired a wild shot at a water spike. The bearings flew through them and created a splash, yet the tower stayed standing. Huh… The towers have the same properties as the material it's using. The only difference is that it takes the shape of a tower. So if a spike is made out of water, then I can walk through it no problem… I think.

My brain kept churning. If I remember correctly, Adam said that he 'breaks the supports of an object and creates spikes out of them.' Breaking the supports… concrete is effectively synthetic stone. It doesn't need supports. But maybe he was being figurative. I just have to think smaller.

Bonds connecting molecules are also supports. Maybe Adam breaks down the intermolecular bonds within a material and then forms a spike out of it. The more material he has, the more bonds he can break and reform, the bigger the spike can be. A smile crawled up my face as an idea finally hit me. Why don't I deny him the opportunity to create any big spikes, then?

I turned around, facing the rapidly approaching frothing concrete. Oh boy. I really hope I have the Aura to make it through this attack if I mess up. The fire on my chest burned brighter every second I stared down those bubbles. It's now or never. I broke into a sprint, leaping right before the bubbles touched my feet. Several concrete spikes shot up at that moment, going for my vital spots. A massive smirk grew across my face. That's it.

My hand grabbed a growing pillar, and with a swing, I threw myself up towards the ceiling. Several spikes scratched my exposed thigh. I let out a tiny hiss. Ow! That hurt a bit more than usual. I can feel my Aura start to strain. Come on, Aura. Hold on for just a bit longer…

I reached the apex of my trajectory and stared at the ground below me. The spikes were continuing to soar upwards towards me. I can make out bits of blood on the tips of a couple of them. My feet touched the top of the ceiling. I could feel my heart burning with passion. It's time to bring down the house.

With a twist of my feet, I sprang back down, aiming for the center of the cafeteria, towards where Adam was standing. The man let out a growl, gripping his sword tighter and lowering his weight. I readied both arms of Ember Celica. Not there yet… I need just a bit more room.

The man's growl morphed into a sound of confusion when I flew past him, drifting behind him another meter or so. A gentle flick of my ring fingers primed a hair trigger within my gauntlets. I smiled, giving him a wink. Surprise.

Before the mass of spikes could move to where I was, I smashed into the ground like a meteorite and squeezed the triggers as fast as possible. Adam let out a grunt, stepping away from the massive cloud of debris that flew into the air. I let out a ferocious yell, firing Ember Celica with wild abandon. Down toward the ground, off to the side, up into the air: it didn't matter where the buckshot was flying. A flurry of blows pounded into the cement floor, sending bits of the synthetic stone flying.

It didn't take too long for both gauntlets to click dry. I threw myself to my feet and looked at my handiwork. The ground I stood on is now nothing but rubble. It's like standing on gravel in one of those Mistralian rock gardens. I wafted the smoke away from my face, letting out a cough. I can't really see too much, with all of the smashed debris floating around me, but I reckon I made a good sized rubble patch around me. It's quite smashing, if I say so myself. I reloaded my weapons. Let's see how Adam's going to deal with this.

My ears caught the sound of gravel shifting roughly to my right. I glanced in that direction. Hmm… maybe… I shifted my weight to face the direction of the sound. Like Blake said, there's no point firing a bullet at the man. Just wait for him to charge you before striking. Hmm… is that racist? Because bulls and matadors and all that—

A sheen of red metal whizzed in front of my face, causing me to jump back. Whoa! Okay, I didn't expect him to be that close to be in the first place. Man, I gotta be more careful with that— A ghostly fist flew towards me right then and there. My eyes widened. Oh gods—

I threw my hands up and grunted the moment the fist slammed into me. My feet sunk into the ground. My legs shook trying to keep me upright. Holy moly, is it just me or does Adam hit hard? I glanced up at the fist. In front of my eyes, an arm encased in stone started to materialize. No… that's not Adam. This fist must be his Stand's!

I let out a silent hiss. My gods, a Stand can hit that hard? That punch felt stronger than the Paladin's! Ooh boy. I'm not going to be a happy camper. I made out another fist reeling back in the cloud of dust. My arms went into a cross guard. Oh gods—

"MUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMUMU—" A torrent of punches flew in my direction, forcing me to wince and take the blows. My body kept sinking into the gravel as  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  threw hundreds— no, thousands of punches in what felt like the blink of an eye. I let out a cry of pain and frustration. Geez, how do people survive something like this? It's so hard to keep myself up! I gritted my teeth and started adjusting the barrel of one of my gauntlets. There's no choice, I have to take a shot in the dark. Something to catch him by surprise…

The gun erupted, flying through the Stand and into the dust cloud. A gravelly hiss sounded a second later, followed by the sounds of something wet spraying into the air. I got him? I mean— I got him! **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  disappeared from my sights. Okay, I need to clear the air. I manually loaded a wind Dust bullet before firing it straight up, dispersing the cloud around me.

My jaw flew open at the sight around me just a moment later. From where I stood, there was a roughly ten-meter circle where the concrete floor had turned to gravel. The stacks of rubble outside the area weren't exempted from this treatment, either. The shockwave did a number on them too. Instead of forming big piles, the pieces were scattered around the cafeteria, far away from the pebble circle. I let out a whistle. Oh wow… I really did a number on the cafeteria. Way more than us and JNPR at the food fight combined. Professor Goodwitch is going to be pissed.

My eyes flew towards the bull Faunus. The man stood right at the edge of the gravel circle, held upright with his sword. He did not look good, to say the least. Adam had an ugly hole through the left side of his chest. Tattered flesh hung from his body, exposing the damaged lung underneath. However, the hole had a dark crimson glow, slowly pulling itself together as his Aura worked itself overtime. Every breath he made was ragged. A few streaks of blood ran out of his mouth and down his chin. I can't see his eyes due to the mask, but I can still feel the absolute hatred spewing from him.

"Ptoo!" He spat out a globule of blood on the ground. "No one's been able to hit me like that… I'll make sure you'll suffer the most for what you've done." He pointed his finger in my direction, only to let out a dissatisfied hum a couple of seconds later. "What in the world?" I looked down at my feet. The pebbles… the ones around my feet had spikes not even millimeters tall. It worked! His Stand needed either mass or volume of an object to create a spike. I think it's more volume. However, if I reduce the amount of volume he has access to, the spikes can't possibly penetrate my clothing, let alone me!

The flame on my chest roared as I puffed out my chest. "Me? What about you?" I widened my stance, pointing a finger at him. "All I've seen you do is hurt and maim your fellow Faunus! You'd think somebody so focused on improving the lives of Faunus-kind wouldn't do that sort of thing, but no! You can't even respect your own! And don't even get me started about the things the White Fang did under your control."

I cocked my head to the side. "Blake told me about how you wanted to blow up a train filled with civilians, both humans and Faunus. Then how about the Dust robberies or— or the situation with the Achieve Men or even the Amity? For somebody who's determined to end the injustice against the Faunus, you deal a lot of it back to them."

"And what does a human like you know about the Faunus?" Adam sneered. "Who says you can speak out for our people, say you understand our problems? You out of anybody wouldn't be able to understand the steps needed to fix the mess your race brought upon us! You're just as ignorant as the rest of the sheep down that cliff." His transparent Stand started to float off to the side, reaching for a fallen chunk of rubble.

I hissed. Darn it— No, wait. I narrowed my eyes. Actually… The bull Faunus stood up taller, his wound nearly healed up at this point, even if it stopped repairing itself. "Let me make this clear. Society is corrupt to the core. It allowed itself to get complacent when it comes to atoning for past sins against the Faunus. It forgot the injustices of the past and allowed the injustices of the present to persist. And I say no more."

He threw his hands out, basking in the destruction around him. "All this, this is fixing the injustice the Faunus faced and more. This legacy of Faunus oppression… it will be torn down. I will make sure everyone pays for their sins, whether they are the perpetrators or the bystanders. And when everything's done—"  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** whistled like a steam train, heaving the boulder and tossing it towards me. Adam yanked his sword out. "The Faunus will be back where they belong. On top of the pyramid."

Fire spewed out of Ember Celica, launching me towards the man. I can feel the heat radiating out of my red eyes. I've had enough of this! The chunk of rock flew over Adam's head in that instant, soaring towards me. My eyes widened. That thing has to be roughly the size of me! Bubbles dotted the surface of the rock.

Every brain cell is telling me to not punch the rock. It's obviously a trap, and I don't know what  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  can do to me, even if I still have some Aura left. But every fiber of my being… it's like a roaring fire. The flame over my chest ignited even brighter than before. I refuse to back down. Let's see how he likes a taste of his own Stand power!

"Take this!" I slammed my fist into the stone. Several spikes jutted out in turn, forming around my hand before jabbing their points into my wrist. I took a sharp breath. For the love of gods, please… I threw my other fist into the boulder full throttle, only for it to suffer the same fate. Oh, come on!

The boulder and I collapsed to the ground. He bound me to the stone. That's not good. Not good at all. If these things are holding me down, it wouldn't take long for Adam to rush in and slice me into pieces. I glanced up to see the man draw his sword. Yeah, not going to let that happen. I grunted, dragging the stone with me as I got up to my feet. Okay… let's just yank myself out. I wiggled my arms, trying to free them from their bindings. It only resulted in even more pinpricks stabbing me in the wrists. Ow, what in the world?

I looked at my arms and gasped. The spikes have spikes on them! They hooked into my skin and gauntlet, refusing to let me go. Oh my gods… he made barbs out of these things! I can't pull myself out from the boulder without ripping my Aura to shreds! I glanced up before flinching.  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  glared at me, Adam's sword in one of its hands. Wait a minute… Stands can use items themselves? Then the person who swiped at me before wasn't Adam… it was his Stand wielding his sword!

The bull Faunus sneered at me, flashing his teeth. I let out a growl. If he was trying to piss me off, he's going a great job at it. He pointed a finger at me. "I have just one word for you: die."

**「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  zipped towards me and threw a horizontal red blur of death in my direction. It caught the stone I was bound to, slicing the stone in the same area as my chest and unintentionally slicing enough to free me. Whoa! I leapt back, letting out a yip as the rubble in front of me flew into the air. My hands were still bound, but at least I can move now. But oh gods! I need to get out of his range! I stepped back.

If I remember correctly, he needed his Stand's range plus his sword to put me just barely into his range. I should be safe standing right here— aaand he decided to follow the perimeter of the circle. I felt a drop of sweat slip down my face. When is he going to try something drastic to turn the tables? He never pulled out his shotgun. I don't think he's going to start now, to be honest. But still… I can't keep circling around and lead him on forever. I need to do something now.

But first, I should free myself. I tugged against the stone, only to feel sharp points jab into me yet again. Okay, it's not going to happen that way no matter what. Think, think… if I kick the extra material off, I might reduce the size of the spikes to the point where I can just slip out of it… except the surface is still bubbling. He might have enough material to entrap another limb. I'll be screwed if that happens.

Hmm… What else… If I had a solid object, I might be able to just bash off the boulder. But that would mean leaving the field of gravel. That's another place where a spike can pop out and penetrate me. I might get lucky and have  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** slice another chunk off of me, but Adam must've caught on to that plan. Oh gods… I frowned. What am I going to do—

Wait. Adam sliced the stone. That's what broke, not the spikes. Gears started turning in my head. The spikes are the things that hold me in place… not the stone itself. Which means… I turned the stone over. Sure enough, there were two neat holes from where I punched them. That's it! I immediately ran over to the edge of my circle and dropped to the ground, pressing the boulder restraint against the flat floor. The flat ground around me started bubbling.

"Have you given up yet? Are you ready to die?" Adam let out a snort. "I'll grant it to you, then—"

Ember Celica roared as it fired straight into the ground. Tears welled in my eyes as hot gas started burning my fingers. Come on, this has to be enough. Please be enough— Cracks started to form around my hands. Yes! I fired my gauntlets again. Several more cracks zig-zagged across the stone. I can feel just the slightest amount of slack. One more—

With the third shot, the stone finally shattered, blowing away the spikes around my hands and wrist. I let out a gasp, yanking them away from their prison. Yes! Freedom! I threw myself back, eyes wary of the bubbling formation in front of me. Okay, that's not going to spring out at me anytime soon… Wait a minute, what about Adam? Shuffling gravel caught my ear. Oh gods—

I twisted around and threw a sharp left hook, catching the crimson blade and the swordsman wielding it. We grunted, the both of us straining as we remained locked. "Persistent bimbo," the man growled. "Not willing to die like the vermin you really are."

"Funny," I shrugged, giving him a grin. "When you put it like that, that feels like a compliment. I mean, just look. A 'vermin' like me? I think I'm doing a pretty good job at holding up against the 'superior race.' If you ask me, I think that says a lot about you. What, are you so weak that you can't even defeat a person without a Stand?" I grinned, watching as the man's face started turning red in anger. "If I'm vermin, what does that make you?"

"Shut up!" He sidestepped me before jabbing the point of his sword toward me. Not a second later,  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  shot from his body and swung its fist into my stomach. I caught the sword without a second thought, but the Stand made contact before I could react to its blow. I let out a wheeze. My body flew into the air with a single hit. In fact, the only reason why I didn't fly off was the fact that I kept my grip on the blade. Really dangerous, I know. But thankfully the white gloves I still had on didn't cut. I have no idea why I'm still wearing them, but I'm glad I didn't take them off. The stone-like Stand reeled another fist back.

I narrowed my eyes. Is that Adam's going to do? Try to pummel me down while making sure my hands can't do anything to protect themselves? Well, that's not going to happen! If anything, I'll do it to him first! My right hand let go of the blade, pulling back as I stared down Adam. "Well, this feels like the Wild West. Both of us waiting for the signal to fire." I stared into the slits of his mask as I felt my body burn with energy. I think my hair rose up as well. "You're not going to win, Adam. I'm going to make sure of that."

"I'm not going to let a human stop me from returning the Faunus to their rightful status," he growled. "All of your talk is just that: talk. You have no chance in punching faster than a Stand, especially not with a single hand! I've never seen a person so arrogant to believe that such a thing is possible!"

"Nothing's impossible!" I shot a glare at him. "I've faced a lot of things people would consider impossible. My friends do things I would've considered impossible. Even when they have the option to give up, everyone is putting their lives on the line to do the impossible. So I will as well!" My eyes absolutely glowed. "So come at me and feel my fire!"

**「** **WARFLOWER** **」** twisted its torso, reeling back before swinging a sharp right hook at me. "MOOOOO—"

The fire in my chest grew into a raging bonfire as I ducked under the Stand's fist. Funny thing about going up against someone with boxing training: they understand all the many ways a human can punch another person. And oh boy, was that the worst hook I've ever seen. My eyes radiated heat. "ORA!" I swung my fist into his gut with the power of one-thousand Stand punches.

I wished I could see the complete look on Adam's face as he flew back, letting out a scream of pain along with the crunching of bones snapping and the squish of organs bleeding. A crater the size of my head sank two inches into his chest, and out of his mouth come out a fountain of blood. And this is just my Semblance. If I added a shotgun blast to that, well… I'm not going to visit that thought right now.

He let go of his sword and left it in my hands. There was nothing the man could do now. Even if he manages to survive the blow, which has the power of what felt like hundreds of Stand punches, there's no way he'll be in any shape to fight back. He's done. I smirked, blowing over my knuckles like a gunman in a Western. One punch, one kill—

A pillar appeared out from the ground, catching the man right outside the gravel circle. The man let out another bloody cough, but it looks like he's not out of the fight yet. I let out a hiss of frustration. Oh, come on! Can't you just give me this one at the very least? From the looks of it,  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  didn't agree, as it snatched the crimson sword in my hands and swung it downwards. Oh boy—

The blade caught nothing but air. One quick sidestep helped me evade the strike. A bead of sweat slipped down my face. This isn't good. At all. I'm not really liking my odds of going toe-to-toe with a genuine Stand. What was it that Ruby and the others said about harming them? Stands can only hurt other Stands? Well, last time I checked, I'm not a Stand, nor do I have a Stand to fight with. I'm not going to make any progress fighting against this thing with only my bare fists. I need to get to Adam if I want to stop him.

And from the looks of it, he might've realized that as well. I glanced behind the nearly translucent Stand to see the man eyeing me warily before pulling out his shotgun sheath and reloading it. Yeah, let's change that 'might've' to 'has.' I brought my fists up as  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** spun its blade around. If I don't do something quickly, I'm going to die, and who knows what will happen to Blake. I curled my fists into a ball. Should I shoot at Adam and risk giving him the energy to one-shot me? Run towards him and hope that I can hold on long enough to make it past the Stand? Try—

**「** **WARFLOWER** **」** swung at that moment, forcing me back. Oh gods… I know I just dodged a punch from that thing, but the stone-armored Stand is still blazing fast. Whelp. There goes my plan of just booking it to Adam. Only one thought ran through my mind. One last idea that can amount to something: break the sword.

I ran towards the floating humanoid, ducking and covering my head with my gauntlets as I got into its sword range. It's his main weapon, so I might be able to cripple his Semblance if I destroy that. At least, that's the hope. I don't know, I'm really feeling the pressure of failure weighing down on me. My ears caught a metallic ringing right as I felt my arms tremble with the blow of metal on metal. I have to make this count. I caught the blade of the weapon yet again before the Stand could pull away. Everyone's counting on me! My free hand swung around towards the blade. I won't let Adam win! I threw the hardest punch I could muster.

My heart dropped in horror a second later when instead of the ringing sound of shattering metal, I heard the ever sickening crunch of bone. Horror morphed into anguish as a wave of pain flew up my arm. Oh gods… what? I pulled my fist away. Little spikes dotted the flat of the blade, each an inch big. Each spike reminded me more of the studs on a brass knuckle more than anything else. Luckily, it's not really enough to pierce through my Aura. But still, ow! I waved my hand in pain. Gods, that's not going to go away anytime soon. From the corner of my eye, something moved.

There was nothing I could do when a fist buried itself into my chest a moment later, shoving the Arrow in further and sending another wave of pain through my body. Agh! I glanced up. My eyes widened at the sight of  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** and its fist burrowed in my chest. I can definitely read the look in its reptilian eyes, unlike Adam. And all I can see is the anger and bloodthirst of someone who wants to wipe me from existence. My feet left the ground. Huh—

With a roar,  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** lifted and launched me across the cafeteria. Oh gods… please— I slammed into a bed of something sharp, piercing through my back. I cried out, tears rolling out of my eyes. A long crack rang through the cafeteria, followed by my Aura fading into nothingness.

I need to get out. Now. I tried yanking myself out, only to feel spikes of pain. Ow! What the— I glanced to my right to see barbed hook spikes jut out all over the wall. I'm currently stuck to the wall, arms outstretched in a t-pose. I think I'm five meters up from the ground. The spikes weren't long, but they did more than enough to pincushion and trap me. So that means if I try to tear myself away, I'll rip my flesh off?

My eyes widened. No. This can't be happening. Please, gods no!

I glanced back at Adam, only to feel my heart sink even more. Adam had his sword back, and he's already making his way towards me. I tried yanking myself out yet again. Nothing but another wave of pain responded. I can feel something wet drip down my back now. Gods, let me out!

Adam smirked, running his blade over his coat to wipe… something off. "You've been a pain, human. You think you're always one step ahead of me, do you? You think just because you're so wily, you can defeat me, huh? But look at you now. The rat trap has fallen, and now it's time for me to finally remove the vermin." He offered the sword to a fully-formed **「** **WARFLOWER,** **」**  who took it and floated up to me. So that's what it looked like…

"You're not going to get away with this," I spat out.

"Twenty-three. Twenty-three times I've heard somebody say some variant of that line. You humans really like those words, do you?" It brought up the sword and aimed it to the left of my belly. "Don't worry. You'll eventually die, but I need to make an example out of you."

The point punctured through me, causing me to scream in pain and swing around in pain. No! Make it stop! Adam let out a shushing sound. "Stay still. I just punctured your stomach, and I don't want you to be eaten by the stomach acid just yet. You've just paid for the sin of making my people go hungry. And there are several more to come. His Stand pulled the sword away, forcing me to take a breath in. "What next… maybe your leg." The sword sliced down into my thigh, forcing out another cry out of me. "For forcing my people to bear the burden of society."

He gave me a chuckle that sent shivers down my spine. "I might not like torture, but I have no problems with dishing out punishment. And I have so many sins to punish you humans for. I'll take your arm for chaining us up. Rip out your lung for cancer gained from the Dust mines! A spike through the throat for the verbal abuse and lies! A sword through the heart for tainting the true heart and spirit of the Faunus!" He slammed his fist against a wall, cracking it. " I'll inflict all those and more on you. And when you finally give up your life, when you die for your sins, I'll hang you up and show all of humanity what they have to pay for."

I let out a tiny whimper in response. Gods, I'm really stuck at an impasse here, huh? The fire over my chest extinguished as the Arrow fell from my chest and onto the floor. This is it, huh? I've failed, and I'm going to die. A soft smile grew across my face. It was a nice life I managed to live. But I guess this is the end.

A tiny 'caw' caught my attention. What? I looked up and spotted a raven perched upon a nearby baluster. Oh, hey there. I see you're here to watch me die as well. I let out a sigh. For some reason, this one raven keeps appearing wherever I go, almost like a concerned parent. It's so weird, watching me from above like a guardian angel. Almost like… family.

Family… what would the others think if they saw me like this? My eyes widened. Adam… he'll make a message out of me. They won't need to imagine it. They'll see what he'll do to me… and what he'll do to them. The anguish, the pain. My blood started boiling. Dad falling apart, again. Uncle Qrow losing himself to alcohol, again. Ruby losing that sparkle in her eyes for the first and only time. They've suffered enough from loss! My chest started heaving, the hole from the Arrow completely gone. And they'll go through it again and again, as long as Adam's out there hunting down everyone I love. That sickens me to the bone!

I slammed my hand against the wall, ignoring the pain of the spikes jamming into my fingers. I can feel a fire building within me, a wildfire of a hearth casting away the pain I feel. This cycle of hurt ends now! I started pushing against the wall, letting the hooks slice through my muscles.

"Not complying with me, huh," Adam noted. "I haven't even gotten to your arm yet." The blade was raised over my left shoulder. "You have dead Faunus to atone for, you know. So stay still and take your punishment!"  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** swung the sword down.

Only for my arm to rip away from the wall and snatch the blade before it could cut me. The glove kept the blade from slicing my arm in two. Adam stepped back in shock. "What the—"

"Adam!" I stared him down. "As long as I'm still alive, I'm not giving in! You think you need to burn and hurt others to return the pain the Faunus feel. But you're wrong. Fire is meant to warm and help others live! And I won't let you hurt any more people!" My arm started pushing the blade back. It feels like everything is just going to combust anytime now. "I won't let my fire burn out! I'll keep the people I love safe and warm! Love… that is my passion! That is the eternal flame keeping Remnant alive!"

"You naive girl!" Adam roared. "Love never got anyone anywhere, only action! So do the world a favor and just die!"

Right then and there several crackles appeared around me before my world erupted into flames in a very literal sense. For some reason, my body lit on fire, engulfing me up in a wave of flames. Despite the flames eating at my very being, it doesn't feel… painful. It's warm yet comfortable, fiery but not out of control. I don't know why my body just spontaneously combusted, but it sent my spirits soaring. With a roar, I swung a punch at  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** —

And gasped when an orange-yellow hand exploded out of my fist, smashing the stone-armored Stand in the face. Adam, in turn, staggered back, holding his nose as blood spewed out of it. Huh? What's going on—

I felt myself falling. I'm free? I slammed into the floor, forming a crater on the ground. Oh my gods, I'm free! I stood up and glanced at my hands. How did I do that— Wait, I stood up? But my leg— I glanced down and gasped. There's an ugly burn mark where a cut used to be. But I feel fine now. There's a bit of stiffness, but it's not affecting me at all! But if that happened, then the torso wound— I looked to the left and gasped. Fire danced upon the open stab wound, burning over it until there was nothing but a burn scar. I twisted my torso around. Stiff, but functional. Same thing for my back. Just like that, I'm healed up, although not in perfect condition like before. But how?

My head turned back towards the wall. I gasped at the sight behind me. The first thing I noticed was the spiked section of the wall was on fire. Tiny flames burned where the spikes used to be. Is that how I got out? But how did that happen? Concrete doesn't burst into flames normally. Unless… Did I do that? I blinked. But I shouldn't be able to. My Semblance shouldn't be able to do that, and I'm sure Dust can't do that either, so the only option is a Stand…

A humanoid female drifted into my sightline, causing me to flinch. What the— Huh? I stared at the floating figure. The first thing I noticed was how it's dressed in flames. Literally. The muscular woman wore a North Valean-style dress, like what the stereotypical Viking woman would wear back in the past. But the dress itself… it's fire. Wiggling orange flames swam up her dress and into her collarbones, and none of it phased her one bit. She also wore a corset/apron combo made of dark, thick smoke. I guess it looks most like an apron dress.

Over her face is a face mask styled like a phoenix, similar to the metal faceplate the Vikings had attached to their helmets. It was complete with two columns of bright red feathers sticking up into the air like a roaring flame, almost like showy plumage. There were even some embers stuck to some of the feathers. I let out a tiny 'whoa' at the sight of the woman floating in front of me. This is it, huh? This is my Stand. I can feel one phrase come to mind when I look at the Stand. This is **「** **ETERNAL FLAME.** **」**

The two of us locked eyes with each other. I mouthed to her: " _Are you here to help me?_ " The Stand nodded, giving me a smile as it floated towards me. " _How?_ " She pressed her finger against her lips for a moment before slamming her fist into her palm. I grinned. That's more like it. I'm liking her style. And before I forget. I snatched the Arrow and stashed it away. Not going to let this disappear again.

"Hmph!" I turned around. Adam staggered up, wiping a streak of blood on the side of his mouth.  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」** flew back to him, sheathing his sword with one smooth stroke. "So you managed to gain a Stand to fight back against me. So what? Having a Stand means nothing, especially considering you have no Aura left. You might've bought yourself more time, but clearly not enough. I can easily end you with a snap of my fingers." He followed that with a snap.

Spikes flew out of the ground, causing my eyes to widen. Oh— I forgot! I'm not on gravel anymore! I have to jump away! But gods, they're moving fast. The points were already reaching my clothes even as I pushed off the ground. I'm not going to make it—

"FLOOM!"  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME** **」** flew into me, twirling the flame dress around in a circle. My eyes widened in surprise a moment later when the concrete caught on fire. No… not just that. I watched as each spike grew thinner and thinner, quickly consumed by the flames. Before any single spike could spear me, the flame overtook it completely. I dropped through the flaming spikes a moment later, landing on the floor. Huh? Did I just… survive that?

"What the— How did you survive that?" I glanced up. The bull Faunus had his mouth open in shock. "The spikes… how did you get through them?" I didn't answer him, jumping through the bars of the fiery cage. My Stand ability… I know what it is. It causes objects to spontaneously combust. I make an object highly reactive to oxygen, and then it just burns into flames. I snapped my fingers.

The flames disappeared in an instant, bringing back the concrete spikes. And I can revert them back to their original form. But that means I'm technically not burning the object, so is it really spontaneous combustion? … Eh, screw it. I can turn things into flames and back. That's good enough for me.

I glanced towards Adam, who let out a growl as he grabbed the hilt of his sword. His feet shifted on the gravel he stood on. "Go on. Run towards me. But don't think that you've won. This is only a setback." He started breathing heavily. "Do you really think you can beat me in a one-on-one fight with a new Stand? Huh?" His voice grew into a roar. "I will kill you, you hear me? You're dead!"

"Like hell you will!" I pushed off, dashing straight towards him. The ground in front of me started bubbling. This is it. I'm going to put everything I have into this! Come on…  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME** **」**  swiped the floor in front of me. Let's do this! I let out a roar as flaming spikes flew out from the ground, collapsing through me yet never breaking my skin. Closing the distance… twenty meters… fifteen meters… ten meters…

At five meters, the stone-armored Stand rushed forwards, fist raised towards my face.  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME** **」**  shot out in front of me, fists raised in turn. Looking at her from behind, I noticed how her flame and smoke dress couldn't keep up, revealing a bright yellow and orange colored Stand who definitely had muscles! I took a deep breath. Come on, show your true power,  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME!** **」**

"MUMUMUMUMUMUMU—"

"ORAORAORAORAORAORA—" The two Stands slammed into each other, both sending a barrage of fists at each other. Wind whipped around them as fist met fist, causing my hair to flutter in the air. The heart of stone versus the heart of fire: who will win? They seem evenly matched, neither having a significant advantage over the other. That didn't really matter to me, though. The ground below me stopped bubbling. As long as  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME** **」** holds on long enough for me to act.

I ran past the two without blinking, focusing on the bull Faunus in front of me. The man lowered his stance, gripping his sword tightly. There's no doubt about it: he's going to try and cut me the moment I make contact. And I've watched this guy in action: he's probably faster than me on the draw. If I punch, I'll get sliced. If I shoot him, I might get lucky and hit him without Aura, I might not. I locked a shell in both of my gauntlets. However, I think I can bring that 'maybe' up to a 'definitely.'

A fireball flew out of my left gauntlet, bursting on the floor maybe a meter in front of Adam and launching debris up into the air. It's not going to stop him from swinging the sword, but all I need is a flinch. I brought my other hand back as I charged through the dust cloud. I just need to strike before he does! I let out a roar and threw a roundhouse punch through the cloud—

Only for my hand to catch on a sharp edge. I winced. Ow! He swung early! Agh, that stings! I threw my other fist, only for it to be caught by someone's palm. "You underestimated me," Adam rasped, showing his mask within the dust cloud. "I'm not going to fall just because of a simple trick like that. And if you ask me, I'm getting tired of this fight." I felt my feet start to slide back on the gravel. And if my hearing is correct, there are bubbling sounds from behind me. Where the solid concrete is… The man grimaced. "So, let's have a contest of strength. Once and for all, let me show you the strength of the Faunus! I will win!"

"No need for that," I smirked as I saw the steel blade start to flicker into flames. "I think I've already won." With a final push, my fist broke through the flaming blade, slamming right into Adam's face and knocking him to the ground.  **「** **WARFLOWER** **」**  disappeared, leaving the three of us left. There's only one thing left to do. I started towards the man.

"You think this is over?" the man gasped, lifting his head and shooting me a glare. "That when I go down, the White Fang will simply cease to exist? My brothers understand just as much as I do that nothing short of a revolution will help the Faunus. Your race's reign will be ripped to shreds one day!"

"I don't think so."  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME** **」**  floated behind Adam as I continued to stare him down. "True, I'm sure humanity won't be dominant forever. However, that won't be because the Faunus overthrew us. No, it'll be because we choose to work together, and the distinction will no longer matter. No more divides, no more distrust. Just honesty, love, and a willingness to protect everyone from harm."

"Speaking of which—" I gave him a sharp stare. "Did you know I'm very protective of the people I care about? It's bad to the point that I get violently angry when they get hurt. People can get hurt real bad if they piss me off." I lit my knuckles on fire. "And you nearly killed my partner."  **「** **ETERNAL FLAME** **」** snatched the man up and threw him in the air.

"Hngh!" He tried to curl up, but… let's just say it was useless.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA—"

"ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA—"

The two of us threw everything we had at the man as he bounced between the two of us. Jabs, hooks, roundhouses: we mixed up the punches in our flurry of fists impacting Adam. Craters on craters formed on this man's body, most likely grinding his bones to dust and then some more.

"FLOOM!" I finished with a flaming uppercut, knocking Adam up into air. His limp body crashed into the gravel, twitching twice before slumping over. Whew. It's over. My Stand disappeared, followed by me nearly collapsing to the floor. Oh, whoa. I can't believe how intense that was. But I did it. Adam's down for the count.

Whew… And with that done… I should get Blake to a doctor. With a tired gaze, I turned around and started for her body.

* * *

Almost… there… Sweat ran down my face. At this point, I was holding the stall more like a wagon rather than carrying it on my shoulders.

I let out a long sigh, brushing my cape back. All of this walking, and still no Stand user in sight. Well, there's still some ways left until we reach the landing pads. But the fact that nothing's happening… I don't know… what if I'm wrong? What if the Stand user isn't here after all? What in the world are we going to do, then? I'm basically trapped here if it turns out that I'm wrong—

A crash caused me to jerk up. What the— I looked in its direction. Huh? The girl's bathroom? Why would there be sounds coming from there? Unless… there's someone in there. I let go of the stall and brought Crescent Rose to my eyes. Who can it be? I started forwards, pushing through the door. There's still a small corridor that leads to the toilets. Is it the Stand user?

Whispers caught my attention. Someone's in here, for sure. More than one. Could it be civilians trapped inside? White Fang trying to recover from the jellyfish? I don't know, but there's only one way to find out.

"Hands up!" I stepped past the corner, Crescent Rose pointed forwards. "Who's there—"

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot! If you want to take a hostage, take Emi!"

"Huh?" I lowered my gun the moment I saw who was there. Team C.M.E.N. stood in front of me, their arms raised.

Amber eyes stared at me, a look of shock growing on her face. "Ruby?"

I let out a gasp. "Cinder?"

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ = 9/14/2018**

* * *

**Russel's Bizarre Adventure - Act 2**

My heart thumped in my chest as we approached the group of civilians still waiting in line, our weapons in tow. I wished that we could be using our own weapons to fight the Grimm instead of this. And from the faces Cardin and the others were making, they probably feel the same way. But this is for the people. This is for their survival. We just need to believe that.

Even when I repeated that thought over and over in my mind, I couldn't help but look at the situation in front of us. The crowd easily outnumber us several times over. Most of them were trying their best to hold in their emotions, but I can feel the miasma of terror rise in the air. They probably want to hear some good news right now, ideally along the lines of 'we'll get you out of here, don't worry.' But once they learn what we have to say… who knows what will happen?

'Remnan survival is completely dependent on how well the civilians can handle the situation around them.' That's what Beacon taught every Huntsmen-in-Training. Doing anything to tip the balance of emotions in the wrong direction can get everyone killed. Which is why what we're doing is absolutely insane. This isn't just tipping the balance. This is slamming down on it and somehow hoping it doesn't go wrong.

And  _I_  roped my teammates into this situation. It was the best decision we have, but none of us really believed in it. And it's us who have the convince the others to go along with it. I swallowed, glancing at my team leader. Even he was starting to sweat. I hope Cardin can pull through. He doesn't have the greatest speaking skills, but hopefully, his size and confidence can pull through.

I sighed. This isn't going to be easy stuff. We're basically asking for everyone to put their lives on the line, after all. I just really, really hope that he can somehow convince the rest of the civilians.

Cardin cleared his throat forcefully, getting the attention of the few people closest to us. "Everyone, listen up!" He yelled, his voice echoing through the plaza. That got everybody else's attention. He let out a sigh. "We need to ask a favor of all of you."

Everybody started to murmur to each other the moment they heard that. I can already make out the uncertainty on their faces. My team leader bit his lip. "Atlas… and Vale need your help. I'll be straightforward with this: we need every able-bodied person to come forward and help build a wall around the breach."

At that, the crowd burst into chatter. "What?" somebody called out from the crowd. "That's suicide! Why don't you Huntsmen get us out of here instead of getting us to risk our lives for some wall?"

I decided to step in. "We're taking every safety measure we can," I lied. Come on, come on… what else can I say to convince them? "We can't guarantee that the Grimm will take their time down there. They will spring out eventually, and we don't want it to happen when everyone's still waiting to be evacuated. If we have everyone erect the wall, the Grimm will be stalled, even if it's only for a few precious minutes. That's time that can be used to finish evacuating everyone."

"Well, why don't you build the wall yourself?" the same voice cried back. "Isn't it your job to protect us? You're asking us to put ourselves in danger!"

The giant of a boy raised his voice. Cardin puffed his chest out. "Us Huntsmen are here to protect you all for this task! We're not going to put everyone in danger. We will be fending off any Grimm alongside the Atlesian soldiers! If you build quickly, the wall will be finished before any of the Grimm break past us. You'll never be in any sort of danger! This is absolutely necessary to keep everyone safe! Trust us, once the wall is up, the Atlesians will hold them off so you all can escape!"

A silence grew amongst the crowd. Huh? Did it work?

"That's a bunch of bull!" somebody finally called out. "Those Atlesian soldiers were supposed to protect Vale from any attack, and guess what happened? The Grimm broke through anyway! These terrorists managed to get past Atlas's so-called finest. Who's to say that they'll fail us here? Who's to say that they won't just all abandon us all before we can build our wall?"

That got the rest of the crowd riled up. I can see agitation visibly manifest within the crowd. The voice continued, "We can't trust the Atlesians! If we leave our lives in their hands, they'll get us all killed! We're not safe here! Screw them, we need to save ourselves first!"

I cursed underneath my breath. Oh gods, this isn't good. The mood of the crowd got a lot more… tense. I don't think this is going to work out. My eyes squeezed shut. If only I could do something about the situation… There's… I do have **「** **FEEL GOOD INC,** **」**  but the last time that appeared, I got everybody in Beacon to go on a rampage. What if I that happens again here? Can I control the emotions? If everybody's fighting and drawing the Grimm… The last thing we need is for me to make it worse! But it's already getting worse… so what do I do? How can I stop this from going out of control?

"Hey, can somebody explain what's going on here?" a gruff voice asked from behind me. Everybody stopped and turned around. Sitting on the exterior barricade were three Huntsmen. And not students like us, no, the real deal. The entire crowd stared at them in awe.

There was a woman in white that reminded me of Weiss. A saber and parrying dagger dripped with Grimm ichor. Her stern face reminds me of Goodwitch, and from the looks of her, she's probably just as good. Then there was a brown-haired woman with a Dust staff. She gave the crowd a small smile, a tiny assurance that everything is going to be okay. My eyebrows raised up. I don't know… I somehow  _feel_  like we have something in common. And to round it all off, a messy, unkempt man leaned on a giant greatsword, his eyes boring down on all of us like a bird studying its surroundings. He spoke up: "Shouldn't you all be evacuating?"

"Thank you!" The voice let out a long groan. "We shouldn't be listening to these snot-nosed punks claiming to be Huntsmen! Screw building the wall, we need to get out as soon as possible—"

"A wall?" The brown-haired woman perked up hearing that. "What's this about a wall?"

"The Grimm," I spoke up. Everybody turned to look at me. "We don't have much time to evacuate everyone. We need to build a barricade around the breach. The Atlesians don't have the manpower to build the wall and protect everyone at the same time. They need hands to help form the barrier as soon as possible so that they can focus on fighting off the Grimm—"

"Aha! I knew it!" I'm starting to feel annoyance as the same voice gloated. "The Atlesians  _can't_  protect us! They need fodder to protect themselves! Why bother staying here if that's the case? We're going to leave and fend for ourselves! Screw Atlas, screw the General! Some army—"

"Excuse me," the white-haired woman hissed. "You're being disruptive and disrespectful towards Atlas—"

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it? Kill me in front of everyone? You've probably done it all the time, considering everything that's happened with the people of Mantle. What's one more dead person?" The person raised their arms up. "I dare you. Do it. You're weak, your Kingdom is weak, and your Kingdom is a disgrace to all of Remnant." The person stared down at the white-haired woman. "We shouldn't have ever entrusted our security to Atlas."

The air grew heavy as the two of them stared each other down. I have to do something. We can't let this collapse due to some rabble rouser. I balled up my hands as I felt a familiar figure grip around my neck. But I can't.  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」** is too dangerous. I can't possibly control it. I let out a sharp breath. This is how we die. Two sides arguing and fighting each other as the Grimm come to kill us all—

"Whoa! Now's not the time for that." The amber-haired woman stepped in front of the white-haired one, holding her hands up. "Let's calm down so we can talk about this rationally."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Hi. I'm Amber." She gave everyone a cheery wave. The mood in the air shifted to confusion. I don't blame them. I'm feeling the same way. She continued, "I'm a traveling Huntress from Vacuo. I love traveling, and I happened to be here for the Vytal Festival when all this happened." She stepped off the barricade and dropped down to our level. "And if you ask me, I think it'll help everyone if the wall is built."

The voice let out a scoff. "You agree with the Atlesians?"

"I think that by working with them, you can both protect yourselves and help Atlas in their job of protecting everyone else." Amber started walking towards the crowd with a confidence that I couldn't help but admire. "I am not a native of Vale, and I can't speak for you all when it comes to your feelings on Atlas. However, I can see you all share the same goal right now: to save as many lives as possible."

"And— Atlas is looking out for your future as well!" My eyes widened as I realized what slipped out of my mouth. Where did this energy come from? Why did I decide to stand up for Atlas at that moment? I continued, "They don't want Vale to fall. So they set their foot down here. They do everything in their power to keep just a little bit of Vale in our hands, so that when the Grimm stop surging forwards, we can fight back, take back our homes, reclaim what has been stolen from us. And I know that  _we_  don't want to see our city to fall to the Grimm either. We share the same goals, whether or not we like each other."

For the first time since I obtained my Stand, I felt… certain of myself. It felt as if my words wrapped around me and gave me comfort, a genuine belief that this is true. And the crowd… my words are catching their attention as well. "We must help our fellow Remnan protect our home in the hopes of taking it back." I turned to look at Amber. "Isn't that right?"

She gave me a curious gaze before a smile formed on her face. Amber nodded, raising a hand towards the crowd. "Let's work together, for everyone's sake."

The effect was almost miraculous. A crowd that was hostile just a moment before grew more accepting, even if it was more begrudgingly. Even the negative voice was silent on the matter. Oh my gods… that worked? I honestly did not expect that to happen. Why? How? And how is it that I'm starting to believe my own words as well?

I shook my head. That doesn't matter right now. I threw my hands out. "Come on! We don't have much time! Collect anything strong enough to be used for the barricade and start building!"

Amber walked towards me as the crowd started to disperse. She smiled, leaning towards me with a covered mouth. "So, you have one as well."

"Huh?" I twitched. "One what?"

"One of those spirits, I think they're called Stands?" My breath hitched.

"Wait… you have one as well?"

The brown-haired woman gave me a smile. "You want to see?"

I nodded. She stuck her hands out, summoning a ring made out chalk around her middle finger. With a firm clap, chalk powder flew up her hands and arms, coating her tan skin with a layer of white. Occasionally, a few tiny blocky golem-like creatures would appear out from her chalky skin, jerking around as they glided over the surface of her arm.

"This is  **「** **SWEET DREAMS.** **」** What's yours?"

"Oh, uh…  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC.** **」** " I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, to be honest, I didn't think you would figure me out that quickly. I've been trying to avoid using my powers. I don't really have a strong grasp on it, so—"

"But you did." My eyes widened. Huh? Amber continued, "When you interrupted me with your own speech, I saw a child appear behind you. And when you were talking to the crowd, I could feel your Stand change the mood of the crowd." She gave me an encouraging smile. "I think you have a stronger grasp on your Stand than you realize."

My face went red. "I mean, when you say that, maybe? It's just—" I sighed. "I don't know. I'm afraid of losing power over it, letting it go out of control. The first time it appeared, I got a lot of people hurt. And well… a part of me isn't sure if I'm able to keep my emotions in check while using these powers."

She let out a hum. "I see… You know how I figured out how to control these powers?"

I shook my head. She snapped her fingers. "Conviction. You're scared of using your powers because you don't know where to direct it. That's okay. I think I can figure out why you would feel that way with your ability. It's nothing like mine, where it can't really hurt people. You're afraid of how it can backfire. So you stay on the sidelines, hoping it'll never come up again. What I think you need is focus, and the right kind as well."

Amber glanced at a group of civilians pushing a nearby car into place. "It's hard to find the right kind of motivation, I have to admit. Finding a way to channel your emotions, your feelings, in a way that doesn't harm other people is hard. But restricting yourself or hiding from what you have isn't going to get you anywhere. I'd say if you find a good, honest cause to pour your heart into, a cause that allows your talents to shine, you'll find the determination to use your Stand to its fullest."

"Hmm…" I guess she does have a point… "I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Hey, no problem. This was a nice talk. I like talking about this kind of stuff." The woman get out a long sigh. "And plus, it's nice to know that I'm not the only Stand user in the world. I might not have had my abilities that long, considering I only got them this week. But it's still nice giving you tips."

"Heheh… that's actually kinda funny." A smirk grew on my face. "I think I had a Stand longer than you did, but you're the one giving me advice. Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

She shrugged, letting out a chuckle. "Yeah, that is pretty funny. I guess the world works in unexpected ways."

"Yeah." I turned toward her. "So, I guess we should help set up for the Grimm attack."

"Mmhmm. We should. I'll be with the other Huntsmen." She gave me a wave. "Happy Hunting, then, uh…"

"Russel. I'm Russel. And happy Hunting to you too, Amber."

She beamed at me, pleased at me remembering the name. "Alright then, Russel. And to you, too." And with that, she took off.

"Dude," Sky called out from behind me. "Didn't know you were into older women, Russ."

What the— I jerked around, coming to face with the rest of my team. "Huh? How much did you guys hear?"

"Pretty much all of it," Dove deadpanned. "You know, Sky's dumb romantic speculation aside—"

"Hey!"

"—Again, ignoring the stupid shipping, I don't think she's alright up there in her head, showing off imaginary friends to you and insisting that you have one as well. Were you playing along with her?"

"Sure." I checked my weapons. "Can we put a pin on this for a moment? I think keeping everyone here alive is more important than talking about what you overheard from our conversation."

"Well, considering you're the one who got us into this mess with the Atlesians and this crowd," Cardin started, crossing his arms. "I think we can have some free reign to poke fun at you."

"Aw, come on—"

We can feel the sounds of rumbling below us. Closer to the breach, Atlesian soldiers yelled and started firing into it. I sighed. "Nevermind that. Looks like we're up," I said.

The rest of CRDL nodded. "Yeah," Cardin said. "So, you ready for this?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. "It's not like we have any other choice."

**=TBC=**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stand Descriptions:
> 
> 「WARFLOWER」 - Can force any surface to create towers/spikes, shifting internal mass outwards. Each tower/spike will still keep the properties of the material it is made of, but will always maintain its spiked shape no matter what.
> 
> 「ETERNAL FLAME」 - Can cause things to spontaneously combust by making the object reactive to oxygen. This flame can quickly extend through the object if the user chooses, turning it into a ball of flames. Object being combusted can be anything, as long as either the user or the Stand can touch it. This spontaneous combustion can be reversed by the user.


	45. Don't Speak

What the… My mouth flopped open at the sight of Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald inside the girl's restroom. How did they get here? Weren't they supposed to be with the rest of the crowd? The four of us stared at each other, awestruck at the sight in front of us.

I swallowed, glancing at the three before giving them a wobbly smile. "Uh… hey guys." I rubbed the back of my head, letting out a nervous chuckle. Crescent Rose greeted them as well, letting out a clunk as I put her away. "What are you doing here? And Mercury…" I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why are you in the girl's bathroom?"

The boy raised a brow, looking to his teammates before pointing to himself. "Who, me?" I nodded. He threw out his hands and shrugged. "Well, first of all, it's not what it looks like. You see… we were walking back to the airships to catch the first ride back when Cinder and Emi here had to use the restroom. So, like a true gentleman, I waited outside for them to finish when I heard the screams from down the hallway. So, I did what any reasonable man would do."

Emerald snorted. "Run into the women's bathroom while we were still using it. Because that's the first thing a guy thinks of at the first sign of danger." She rolled her eyes. " _Killer_  instincts there, Mercury."

He chuckled, shaking his head with his signature cocky grin. "Of course, Emi here doesn't seem to get the fact that in a survival situation, sticking together is the best option. So yeah. They _are_  pretty killer instincts, thank you very much—"

"Mercury, please. I think you've made your point." Cinder let out a sigh as she shook her head. "What he said is true. He did run in here and tell us about the commotion, but not much else. And honestly, we weren't planning on leaving until we got an answer." Amber eyes met mine. "Ruby, what's going on?"

"Okay, well long story short, the White Fang bombed Vale and attacked the stadium at the same time. All of the Huntsmen-in-Training are currently evacuating all of the civilians, but nobody can go through this section because of an enemy attack."

That got Cinder to hum. "An enemy attack? So the screams down the hallway—"

"—Were the sounds of people getting hurt," I finished, letting out a sigh. Hmm… I guess they really don't know about everything going on. That's good. We can use all the help we can get. I quickly straightened up, sticking a finger in the air. "I do have some good news, though! I know the person behind the attack is in this area! So I'm going over there to stop them. Once I take care of them, everyone should be able to go through this section and take the airships parked here!"

"Airships?" Emerald snapped her fingers. "That's right, the airbuses. But what about pilots? They're probably gone by now." She gave me a shrug. "I mean I don't know about you, but I know if I had a ship and something was going on in my area, I would bail."

"Maybe," I sighed. "I didn't think about that, to be honest. The pilots might've left the port, or maybe they got captured by the attacker. That doesn't take any focus away from the real threat. Stopping the enemy here comes first. And if we manage to get a couple of airbuses to speed up the evacuation, that'll be even better."

"Right…" Cinder rested her chin on her hand. "Hmm… you said an enemy, right? They attacked everyone here, right?" I gave her a nod. "How? I didn't hear gunshots, and not a lot of people can massacre an entire crowd by hand that quickly."

"It was an enemy St— Semblance! Semblance is what I meant to say." I caught my breath. "But it's like some kind of weird invisibility thing, almost like a cloud. But this cloud has these jellyfish things in it, so it's more like a swarm. It's really hard to see, almost impossible if you didn't know what to look for. And even then you might miss it."

Mercury frowned hearing that. "Well, then. That doesn't complicate things at all. But you said that it's almost impossible to see it, right? Well, how did you see it?" I froze the moment I heard that. Oh, right. I'm going to need to explain myself somehow. Gods, how am I going to do that?

"Uh… well, I kinda… don't, to be honest." I let out a nervous chuckle as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I just… uh, rush towards them and blow the 'cloud' away with my Semblance before they can affect me. And it's working pretty well so far, so… yeah!" I threw my hands out. "That's what I've been doing. But you guys should get out of here. There's an air duct some people escaped through on my way here. Head over there and protect the civilians. I'll go on ahead and—"

"Oh-whoa-whoa-whoa, just wait a minute." Mercury held his hand up, stopping me entirely. "So you're saying that we should run away, while you go in and get to have all the fun?" I nodded. The boy bobbed his head back and forth, making a face all the while. "I don't know about that… I'm not going to leave a chance like that alone."

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "Mercury—"

"Mercury's lust for battle aside, we can be of use here," Cinder said. "For example, I know how to fly an aircraft. I might not have as much experience as a pilot, but I can get by just fine. And while Mercury and Emerald don't have flight experience, they can help with the fight." She gestured to everyone in the bathroom. "We should go together to stop the attack. After that, I'll get to a Bullhead and collect as many people with flight experience as I can. It won't be long until we can use the aircraft to get to our target."

"The other sections, right?"

"Sure," the girl nodded, sticking her hand towards me. "Come on Ruby. Let us help."

Hmm… should I bring them in? It doesn't really feel right, having non-Stand users come with me to a Stand fight. These guys may die if I bring them with me, and I honestly don't know if I can handle that burden if it happens… I glanced down at the tiled floor. But they  _can_  improve our odds. They are Huntsmen, after all. And well… Yang's in the exact same position as them. One of my hands balled up into a fist. What I have to do to protect Remnant.

I looked up at them, staring into each of their eyes before nodding. "Okay.." I turned around and gestured. "These things can surprise you if you're not ready. Follow me, and stay as close as possible. I'll clear out the jellyfish when we meet them."

Emerald nodded. "Sure thing."

Mercury shrugged. "Lead the way."

Cinder smiled. "Thank you."

We crept out of the bathroom. The hallway itself didn't change too much. It was still full of empty booths, the jellyfish were still floating around without a care in the world. Emerald let out a sound of disgust. "Ugh, that's a lot of dead people. Were those people there before, Mercury?"

"Nope," he replied, popping the 'p' in the word. "Weren't there when I first ran in." The boy prodded a nearby body with his foot. "Ooh, yeah." He cleared his throat. "'I've examined this patient and I'm ready to make a declaration. Doctor's diagnosis: he's dead.'" He looked up. "Oh… the cloud's above us."

The mint-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, no way! Stellar observation, Captain Obvious. What's next, the city's on fire? The jellyfish are coming? We're not going to buy cotton candy popcorn balls anytime soon? I  _really_  want to hear what else you have to say."

"Uh, could we not talk about this and focus on something else?" I kept my eyes away from the floor and the bodies, instead focusing at the rapidly forming wall of jellyfish twenty or so meters away from us.

"Don't worry about that, Riding Hood." Mercury clicked his tongue. "But Emi, I'm so honored to know that you want me to speak more. Most of the time you're trying to get me to shut up. But hey, I'm up for talking all day and night if that's what you want." He gave the girl a wink, causing her to shake her head.

"… Gods, I already regret what I said earlier. Let me make this clear then: Mercury, if you don't shut the hell up—"

"How do you work with these guys, Cinder?" I turned over to the leader of team C.M.E.N, giving her a confused look. "Maybe it's just me, but they always seem to argue with each other whenever they have a chance. Doesn't that affect the group?"

"You'd be surprised. It might seem like bickering from the outside, but this is normal for them. They argue more than they should, sure. But I wouldn't say that's a problem." Cinder brushed something off of her skin. "They're good at what they do, and these… discussions get put on hold when they're on the job. So I let them have their arguments. No need to step in if it isn't a problem in the first place."

"Hmm… okay, then." I let out a sigh, turning to look at the wall again. Crescent Rose shifted in my hands, taking on its sniper rifle form. I pulled the bolt back a bit. "Okay, I still have plenty of these…" I muttered, looking at the green-tipped bullet inside. My hand locked the bolt in place.

"Alright, to start out… there's a jellyfish wall a couple meters away from us. None of us are going to pass through that alone. So, I'm going to fire an air bullet, which should knock some of the jellyfish away. I'll run through the hole with my Semblance and blow them away. That should make a big enough gap in the wall for you guys. If you follow the exact path I take, no one should get stung—"

We all froze in place as a 'creak' rumbled off to the side. I bit my lip. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure," Cinder replied, glancing around. "I don't think it's anything worth worrying about. It seems like the occasional structural strain a stadium like this would be bound to have. After all, there have to be tens of thousands of people moving around at once. That's a normal thing—"

This time metallic banging noises vibrated through the arena. Like somebody moving around nearby, and not just through the arena. I took a sharp breath. "I don't know… that doesn't sound like something that's happening throughout the entire building. If anything, that sounds like it's coming from the air vents."

Mercury nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Ruby here, boss. Maybe it's a rodent or something?"

"Those thumps are way too loud for a mouse or a rat. They sound bigger, like… people sized." I turned my head towards a nearby ground floor grate. There's no way one of the civilians happened to wander in our direction. Jaune would have helped them reach the other section, not come here. I felt a bead of sweat slip down my face. Could this be it? Did the Stand user stumble on us? I made sure the bolt of Crescent Rose was seated. If they did, and they happened to be traveling through the vents…

I started tiptoeing towards the vent. "Everyone, get ready. I think they're here." The clacking of weapons unfolding sounded behind me. This could be it. I hope a single wind Dust bullet to the head stuns the user long enough for us to restrain them. After all, wind Dust bullets are non-lethal projectiles… right? I lifted the sniper rifle up to my face. Another rumble of metal in front of me. There's definitely someone in there. My index finger twitched. Who's in there…

A hand flew out, pushing the grate out from its place. I dropped down and pointed the weapon into the duct. "Stop! Who's there?"

"Oh gods— Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" My eyes widened as a set of tiny moose antlers poked into my field of view. The petite girl's eyes widened before she shrank into a ball. "Please don't shoot!"

My jaw dropped. "What the— Bori? Is that you?" She nodded her head, crawling out of the vent and standing up. She was covered head to toe in dust, and no amount of brushing could get all of it off. I swallowed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be with the rest of the civilians in section G. How did you get over here?"

"Uh, well— My group ran into some people crawling through the vents right as we reached the landing pads. A lot of people were hurt, I heard." She started running her fingers through her hair. "I didn't want to come back, but… well… I, uh—"

"No need to beat around the bush," Emerald groaned, rolling her eyes. "Just spit it out already—"

"My sister's here somewhere!" All of our eyes widened at that.

"What?" I asked.

Bori nodded. "I was going to message my sister and tell her I'm safe. But you know how the messaging app has a location tracker for your friends? I noticed that she's in the arena." The girl started shaking. "I… I… she told me that she couldn't come to the festival with me today due to work. She must've gotten out from work early, and she wanted to surprise me. But now she's in here somewhere with the jellyfish you were talking about!"

I covered my mouth. Oh my gods… The rest of team C.M.E.N. looked just as uncomfortable as me. For once, Mercury frowned when he heard that. Emerald winced, diverting her eyes away from the woman. Cinder muttered something about location trackers under her breath. I finally broke the silence, saying, "If you knew that, why did you come here? Why not tell a Huntsmen to call me?"

She looked like she was ready to faint right there and then, almost hyperventilating. Finally, Bori took a deep, sharp breath. "I want to— I want to do something for once. To be the older sister she deserves."

Her bottom lip quivered. "It's just— I've been a bundle of nerves all my life, yet she stuck by me. She gave me company when people bullied us as kids. She kept me intact when I had nervous breakdown after nervous breakdown. She kept me from shutting myself away from society and embracing horrible, horrible thoughts." Bori shivered, looking at her shaking hands. "She's such an amazing person, and I owe so much to her. And— and I owe it to her to be there for her, just this once."

Cinder took a sharp breath, pressing her lips into a thin line. "That's so… noble of you, Bori. But you should go back to the other civilians and get off the stadium before anything else happens."

"Right!" I stepped forwards. "We can take it from here. That's our job, after all. Your sister would rather want you alive than die for her, I'm sure—"

"But I can help you with the jellyfish!" The girl stepped forwards. "Remember how I said I used to work as a lifeguard? Well, they have ways of mitigating the effect of the sting. Like… uh… Well, there's this product called 'Sting No More' you normally use to deactivate the venoms in the stingers, but I don't have that on me… Uh…"

She glanced around before her eyes landed on a nearby food vendor. "There should be some around here somewhere… Oh!" She yanked out a jug of vinegar. "If you get stung, you can deactivate the 'poison needles' using this! After that, get some warm water and pour it over the affected area to deactivate the venom inside the body. If you find zinc gluconate, that stops the venom from causing heart failure." She shook her head. "Look, I know how to perform these techniques and what to find! I can be useful! Please, just let me look for my sister! She's at the landing pads, and I need to get her out now!"

The amber-eyed girl let out a hum. "Thank you for telling us that. Again, you'll be better off getting back to Vale as soon as possible, but we'll use the information you've given us and search for your sister ourselves—"

"Actually, she might be helpful," I interrupted. Cinder gave me a surprised look. I held my hand out. "Look, Bori has helpful information on how to handle the jellyfish. She can be our medic. Plus, think about it. There's probably going to be tons of people ahead of us who were attacked by the jellyfish. The more people we have to help deactivate the venom, the more people who live!"

"And what about her? Won't you think she'll be a target for the attacker, or maybe her sister? She can potentially trap us somehow—"

"And how is that different from having you guys with me? Mercury and Emerald can help me stop the attacker, you can fly an airship, she can help prevent more people from dying. I'm putting you guys through as much risk as her. And if you say that your being here can help this go easier, than I'm going to take all of the help we can get." I pointed at the girl. "And Bori is helpful."

"But she doesn't have her Aura unlocked—"

"There are some people who look like Huntsmen lying on the floor. Aura isn't going to matter against the jellyfish. You're just as likely going to get stung and die as she is. I have a stall I traveled this hall with, so if the situation gets worse, we can just have her stay there. And besides, just look at her eyes." I turned towards her. "She might be frightened, but those eyes have courage. Someone who wants to keep the people she loves safe… she's not going to fail us. Trust me."

Cinder closed her eyes, her forehead wrinkling before she let out a sigh. "Fine. She can come with us. Bori, is it?" The woman nodded. "You know exactly what you're getting into, right?"

She nodded. "I do. And I won't let you guys down."

"Alright, then!" I clapped my hands together. "If that's taken care of, let's continue on!" Crescent Rose appeared in my hands again. "So, like I said before. I'll shoot a hole in the cloud wall with an air bullet before using my Semblance to—"

"Uh, Ruby?" I glanced over at the mint-haired girl. "You know how you said that the weird hazy mist is supposed to be a crowd of jellyfish, right?" I nodded. "Well, you might want to see this." She pointed towards the wall.

I turned to look and gasped. Bori was walking towards the wall. But instead of converging towards her, the jellyfish just… opened up for her. My eyes widened. What in the world? They shouldn't be doing that. What makes her different? Bori looked just as confused. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Come on, then." I gestured to the others. "Let's go, everyone."

* * *

I rubbed the back of my blonde hair as I stared at the security camera screen. One of the civilians was looking up at it, a balding older man. "And you're sure that's everyone?" I asked.

"I've counted my family. They're all safe. It's the same for everyone else. I don't think anyone else is missing anyone aside for the ones we… left behind—" He held back a choking sound. "Sorry. I'm dwelling too much in the past."

"No-no, it's okay." I waved my hands, even though no one was around to see it. "I've just— There are so many people we had to leave back there, and it's— I wish we could've done more to get them out as well."

The man sighed. "You won't believe how many times I thought that as a fireman. How many people we could've saved if we arrived a little sooner, if we were a bit quicker with the uptake, if we could lend a hand instead of sitting at a desk coordinating with the others. Trust me, I know exactly how you're feeling right now. But you've done all you can to get us over here, boy. Thank you."

"You're welcome," I sighed, glancing away from the screen. "If it means anything, my friend down there will do her best to save whoever she comes across. But you should get everyone off of the stadium right now."

He nodded. "I understand. Keep doing what you're doing."

"Right." I ended the call, letting out another sigh as I leaned back in my seat. That should be the last of the guys from section H. Everything else is in Ruby's hands. Same thing for the rest of the Stand users still down there. They're the ones holding the line, making sure that no one gets hurt.

And I'm still trapped in the surveillance room. I rubbed my eyes and let out a groan, glancing at Ciel's scroll to my right. Its screen taunted me with a thumb scanner and the dreaded keypad. Of course, they locked the door mechanism like that. What self-respecting security system wouldn't have multiple lock systems in place?

The rest of the room isn't any better. The air vents here are too small for even a tiny dog to squeeze through. And even if someone could fit through it, the actual grates are welded shut. This is a concrete room, so nobody can just bust through here. Well, at least not me. The door is solid metal with hydraulic locks bolting it in place. The only way of opening it: the electronic key, which is currently stumping me with that dumb passcode. This room is perfectly built for an expected invasion. Not many would be able to break into this room. But when I need to break out of it…

Another groan escaped my mouth. Gods, why do you do this to me? Couldn't you give me a break just this once? I mean, helping the civilians find their way out is nice, but there's bound to be more Stand users on the stadium. And someone's bound to run into someone they can't fight against. If only I can help instead of being here… I started flipping through the camera footage. Ruby's already trying to track down one of them, there's bound to be more somewhere.

Every channel I landed on each had something grim to show. One channel had White Fang members currently going hand to hand with some Huntsmen-in-Training. Another showed the bloody aftermath of another struggle, with several civilians and White Fang bleeding on the floor while the rest of the crowd tried to bandage everyone up. Yet another showed Weiss limping with several other individuals to the exit. One of the civilians had a buff White Fang member with a giant chainsaw slung over his back. But many of the civilians looked malformed, torn apart in a literal sense. I'm glad they're still alive, but at what cost?

And that's not even considering what's going on in Beacon or Vale. The bombs probably let Grimm into the city, but how much of it's currently contained? How many people down there managed to get to fortified buildings? How much negative energy is in the air right now because of this attack? I let out a sharp breath. I hope to gods Blake and Yang took care of the Cupid. If this attack doesn't kill us, I don't think anyone can survive the next one—

"Hahhh… hahhhh…" What the— My hand wrapped around Crocea Mors before swinging it around. Behind me, two meters away from the point of my sword stood a wobbly Ciel. Her chest trembled, making loud, wheezing noises every time the girl breathed in. Her legs in particular looked like they were going to collapse. Ciel shouldn't be up right now. If she's not careful, she's going to hurt herself even more than what I've already done to her.

Determined bloodshot eyes met mine. "Jaune Arc—"

"Ciel, don't take a step further," I ordered, jabbing my sword forwards to make a point. "Just sit down and rest. This is for your own good. Attacking me isn't going to help anyone."

She shook her head. "No… I'm not here to fight." Ciel pointed at the screen. "The footage. This… this isn't right. What's going on? Why are people dying?"

"You don't know— Right. You don't know." I took her scroll. Of course she wouldn't know. A sigh flew out of my mouth. "The White Fang made their move. They've bombed Vale and they're having Bullheads drop off people to attack Beacon and the Amity. The Stand users, my friends are out there fighting to protect everyone from the White Fang attack."

"No… this can't be possible." Ciel shook her head, staring at the screens. "This shouldn't be possible. The attack was supposed to be just the Amity Colosseum, so how in the world did they get the resources to bomb Vale yet cause so much damage to the Amity?" Her eyes widened. "…The Dust thefts and the Stand users. That's how they brought on so much destruction."

Her head bowed down, just barely stopping before meeting the ground. "I have to apologize. I let the selfishness of myself and my Kingdom get the better of me, and your Kingdom has suffered as a result. We never wished for this to happen, you have to take my word for it."

"Ciel… I'm sorry as well." I swallowed. "We let mistrust get between the two of us, between our Kingdoms. Maybe if we had worked together instead of worrying so much about the fate of the Arrow, this might've never happened." I started shaking. "A part of me wants to point fingers, blame others for everything that's happened. But we're not going to go anywhere looking for scapegoats or excuses. We need to save people right now."

I threw my sword to the side before extending my hand. "So I want to start over, from the beginning. From a truthful place, so we can reach a goal together." I smiled. "The name's Jaune Arc."

The girl stared at my hand for a moment, before taking it with a relieved look on her face. "Ciel. Ciel Soleil, specialist of the Atlesian Army. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, and I hope that our working relationship is a lot more fruitful than previously."

We backed away from each other, sizing the other person up. I finally let out a sigh. "Well, now that's out of the way, let's get you caught up." I pushed a nearby swivel chair towards Ciel before sitting on my own. I started typing on the screen. "From what I can tell, the White Fang are being pushed back. That's good, since we're trying to evacuate the civilians using the parked airbuses. Most of the sections have a ton of injured people, and there's no easy way to tell just how bad it is down there."

"Luckily, so far we've only seen two enemy Stand users. Weiss has taken care of one of them, and Ruby's currently going after the other one. The rest of the White Fang are regular people, and everyone is holding up against them."

I started flipping through the channels again. "We can get a decent amount of civilians out of the Amity and into a fortified shelter in Vale if this keeps up. But we need professional emergency care for the wounded right now. I tried calling Vale's emergency system, but they haven't given me a response. I think they're too focused on keeping Vale afloat to come for us."

The specialist nodded. "Understood. Give me a moment." She took her scroll from me and dialed something in. "Titan-Actual, this is Feathered Sun. Requesting medevac to extract civilians, target: Amity Colosseum. We need medical personnel and armed Knights, there's still a significant enemy presence here." She nodded her head. "Limited transport? Not an issue. The situation calls for medics to bandage and transport wounded civilians to docked airbuses and armed forces to guard against a counter-attack… That's right… Preferably a group of four medics and a squad of Knights per section…"

"Tell them to avoid section H," I whispered to her.

"Avoid section H. Currently too dangerous… We have people on that. Yes. Yes sir. Thank you, sir." She ended the call. "They're coming for extraction, ETA five to ten minutes. We're fortunate that a small section of the medical division wasn't currently overloaded with requests from Vale. In summary, you will have the medical team needed for the wounded civilians." Ciel put her scroll away. "Is there anything else we need to concern ourselves with right now?"

"Not unless I get a call." I nodded my head, flipping through the channels yet again. "Aside from that, we're better off looking through the live footage and switch between looking for stranded civilians and keeping an eye on Ruby. She has a lot of ground to cover if she wants to find the Stand user attacking that section, so any useful information we can get is vital— Huh?"

I stopped, staring at the footage. Ruby wasn't rushing forwards like she was previously, instead going to each person on the floor and pouring… something on each of the victims. Four other people were with her, each going to a different person and pouring some kind of substance on the wounded. I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute… That's team C.M.E.N with Ruby. What in the world are they doing there? Were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I shrugged my shoulders. I mean, they're good help.

No, what I'm more focused on is the last person with them. Who is that? I narrowed my eyes. I don't recognize her. Maybe a civilian who survived the jellyfish? That's fine, but why didn't Ruby send that girl away to a safer section? Why bring a civilian into a dangerous environment? Man, Ruby has a lot to explain…

I narrowed my eyes. Something's not right. Aren't they supposed to chase after the Stand user? Why are they focusing their efforts on the civilians instead of the user? Did they already find them?

I flipped through the channels yet again, searching for the signs of a battle. The user has to be here somewhere… Even if it's just a beat up body—

Right as I landed on the docks camera view, my eye flew towards a shadowy figure sitting under the hood of an airship. Wait a minute… Who is that? I watched the figure reach over to a jellyfish and pat it on the top of its head before gently pushing it away from the landing pads. What the— That's the Stand user! I leaned towards the screen, narrowing my eyes as I tried to make out the figure.

They stood up, stepping out of the shadows and into some light. It's a small woman, maybe mid-twenties. Small antlers stuck out above the White Fang mask she had on her face. She had a head of vibrant red hair.

My eyes widened. Wait a minute… I flipped over to the footage of Ruby and the others. The moose woman… red hair, antlers, similar look… Oh gods… that's not good. I need to call Ruby! I snatched my scroll and dialed the girl. "Ruby!" No response. What? I looked at the screen. Everything's… normal. The call is connected, and it should be going through to her. But she's not picking up. It all but confirmed my realization.

I shot up from my seat. "Ciel, get the door open and take my spot on the seat. I need to get to section H as soon as possible." The girl let out a sound of affirmation, pressing a couple of buttons on her scroll. A click came out of the steel door before popping right open. "Thanks. Just help out anyone who calls, and contact me if anything pops up, alright?" She nodded. With that, I rushed out of the door.

A flurry of sweatdrops rushed down my face as my feet pounded against the cement floor. Oh gods. This isn't good. Not good at all. I increased the density of my legs, making every step go farther and faster. I need to get to Ruby now. She's in danger right now. She's already under attack, and not just by the jellyfish Stand user. There's somebody else working with the White Fang with her. Ruby's going to be betrayed.

* * *

"Hey, are you still alive?" I whispered to one of the downed people, crouching down. I brushed my cape back as I glanced over the man. Long, thin, angry red gashes slid across this man's face, the result of a jellyfish attack. The person didn't speak, but he did let out a small gasp. "Whew." I unstarted uncapping the bottle of vinegar I had in my hand. "Sit tight, sir. Everything is going to be okay, just close your eyes and let me pour this on you." With that, I let a small stream of the unpleasant smelling liquid drip onto the wounds. He started squirming the moment it made contact with his body. "Try to keep still. This is going to help with the stings."

He eventually let out a sigh, his muscles relaxing. I straightened up, turning to look at the moose Faunus standing up and brushing herself up. "Bori!" The redheaded girl turned to look at me. "I've gotten this person!"

"Thank you. I'll take care of him." She walked towards me and crouched over the person, pulling out a supplement bottle. "Here, take this."

I wiped my brow, adjusting my cape after I lifted the bottle of vinegar away from the person lying in front of me. "Whew… I think that's the last person in this section." I looked at the three Huntsmen-in-Training behind me. From the looks of it, Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder finished some time ago. They stood around, waiting for Bori to help this last person. I walked over to them. "Whew, I think we got all of them! Or at least the ones that are alive." I smiled, turning back towards the Faunus girl. "You know, I'm glad we have you around, Bori."

"Eh?" The woman jerked back. "Really? I mean, it doesn't really feel that way." She dipped her head down. "I know I showed you the guys the vinegar method for cleaning out jellyfish stings, but I'm not going to be of much help once we reach this mystery person. I just came here to find my sister. But when the actual fighting starts, I'm just going to be a hindrance to everyone else."

"Don't think of it like that, Bori!" I said. "You managed to save these people! They wouldn't have had much of a chance if you never suggested pouring vinegar! Then there's your suggestion for supplying the body with zinc! I know I wouldn't have ever thought of that! And even if this mystery attacker tries to go after you, the jellyfish won't come near you!" I rested a hand on her shoulder. "You're doing a fine job, Bori. There's no need to doubt yourself."

Bori nodded, giving me a small smile. "Thank you."

The gray-haired boy let out a long yawn. "Well, if we're done playing emergency rescue team with all of these guys, shouldn't we finally make our way to the landing pads? There's still that guy on the loose. You said yourself that we needed to get this done as fast as possible, right Ruby?"

I nodded. "Yeah, of course! I'm just going to call Jaune first, tell him to relay the message to everyone in the other sections." I pulled out my scroll… only for my eyebrows to rise up in confusion. What the— the screen's all glitchy. I can't make out any of the text without it becoming all garbled up with the flickering screen. I turned to look at the team leader of C.M.E.N. "Uh… Cinder? Is your scroll fine?"

"It should be." She reached for her pocket and opened up the device. "Mine should be working fine— Wait a minute." Her eyebrows furrowed a moment later, making a quick glance at Emerald. "It  _is_  glitching." She closed it immediately. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, my scroll's all glitchy," I said, tapping at the screen with a huff of frustration. That's weird, I'm sure that I didn't bump against anything recently. I just called Jaune with that. What's going on? I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute… I remember this from somewhere… The simulation! My eyes widened. Oh gods, somebody's using a jammer!

"Guys, the White Fang's using an ECM jammer!" I turned to look at everyone. Most of them had looks of surprise and shock on their faces. As for Emerald… she looked like she was getting a bit pale. "I can't communicate with Jaune or the others. And I guess that's going to be the same thing for you guys' scrolls too." I started fretting. "That's not good. We need to go after the attacker now—"

Emerald suddenly broke into a sweat, grasping her head as she kept an eye on both me and Bori. "Agh! Something's ringing!" She stumbled towards me. "Make it stop, make it stop!"

Before I can react, Cinder smacked the scroll out of my hands, smashing it on the floor. Emerald released her head, letting out a gasp. I let out a gasp of my own. "Oh gods! Emerald, are you okay? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen!"

"Yeah, no. It's fine." Emerald winced, bringing herself upright again. "I'm kinda embarrassed to say this, but… well… I'm uh… sensitive to certain frequencies. It gets especially bad through a scroll if there's any kind of signal interference. It gives me bad migraines. Yeah, that's right. It's, uh, a weird health problem."

I gave her a nod. "That's okay. Again, I'm real sorry about that. I didn't know that you suffered from something like that!"

"Mmhm." Cinder stepped forwards, brushing a lock of hair back. "It's an unusual thing to be sensitive towards, but it's just like somebody who's sensitive to microwave beams or radio waves. They can't really help it." Cinder shrugged her shoulders. "I think it's best if we don't have our scrolls on for the time being. Until we find the jammer, we should keep them off."

"Got it." I groaned. "That's kinda inconvenient, but then again, what can we do?" I smiled. "At least we're maybe a turn or so away from the airships. Once we pass through the last wall of jellyfish—" I turned to look at the thick, pale, flowy wall in front of us. "—We're going to meet the person doing all of this."

The black-haired woman nodded. "We will." She sighed. "Some part of me feels sad for the White Fang of today. They suffered for so long. Most Faunus just want better lives for their families. They do everything in their power to live a quiet life, but they keep being followed and attacked by uncaring people, just because of their Faunus traits. The fact that it had to come to violence is sad, but almost inevitable. And honestly… it's sad what they might face if they lose."

She stared into the air, letting the world fade around her. As for me… I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Okay? Uh… that came out of nowhere. I leaned over to Mercury. "Don't you guys worry a bit about Cinder? Like, don't you worry about the things she says sometimes?"

He shrugged. "Sorta, but not really. Honestly, I don't care that much for what Cinder has to say about the world. As long as she keeps me focused on something, who cares about her rambling? At least I can still do something."

I turned towards the girl with the mint-colored hair. "What about you, Emerald? Don't you think this is weird, even for Cinder?"

"No. I trust that Cinder knows what she's doing." Emerald glanced to the side. "Her views on the world— Whew." Emerald swiped a lock of hair in front of her. "I don't know how to describe it, but you can just feel how much it means to her. It doesn't really bother me at all." I rubbed the back of my head. Huh.

"Alright, he should be good now," Bori sighed, finally standing up before dusting her hands off. Those words cut through the awkwardness lingering in the air, pulling us back together. "I guess that means there's only one place left to go: the landing pads."

Cinder snapped out of her thoughts at that moment, nodding along with the moose Faunus. "Right. The landing pads. The only place left…"

A distant, inhuman shriek ran through the stadium, causing the place to rumble. My eyes widened. What was that? Where did that come from?

Cinder bit her lip. "We don't have much time left. We need to hurry, now."

I nodded my head. "Yup…" I turned towards the civilian. "Bori, I just want to ask you one last time. Are you okay with going with us?"

"As sure as I'll ever be." She nodded her head. "I'm so close to where my sister should be. I'm not going to back away now. Not when she's so close to danger." The girl shivered. "I'm so scared… but I'll do it."

"Okay." I stepped in front of her. "I think now's a good time for the stall." I pulled it towards me. "Get in. I'll tell you when to come out, okay?" Bori nodded, climbing right in without a complaint. I turned towards the others. "And you guys ready?"

They nodded. "More than anything," Cinder whispered. We moved forwards, parting through the jellyfish with the help of Bori. One more wall of jellyfish separated, revealing the docks. None of the ships have departed.

"Hmm?" a feminine voice called out from the airbuses as we walked in. "You finally came. You think you can take the airbuses, or maybe you're here to stop me." A shadowy figure stood up from within an airship, putting on a menacing pose. "But I assure you, none of you are going to make it out alive. Not on my watch."

"Huh?" Bori called out, her voice muffled by the stall. The shadowy figure flinched. Bori started, "Wait a minute… I'd recognize this voice anywhere…" Bori climbed out from her cover, revealing herself. "Can it be?"

The shadowy figure let out a sound of confusion, stepping away from her cover. "No… there's no way… you were supposed to be away from the colosseum." She stepped into the light a moment later. I gasped. Her outfit was typical of the White Fang's, the usual gray and black garment with the Grimm mask. But her hair… she had the same shade of hair like Bori. Her stance was similar to Bori's. They even had antlers in the same area, although this woman had deer antlers instead of moose antlers. My eyes widened. No way.

The White Fang member lifted the mask away from her face, revealing a set of light green eyes staring at the moose Faunus in horror. "My gods… Bori?"

The woman let out a loud gulp, staring right back at the White Fang member. "Deery?"

**⇐ _TO BE CONTINUED_ =  _9/28/2018_**

* * *

**Russel's Bizarre Adventure - Act 3**

An Ursa pulled itself to the surface, wiping its face before letting out a ferocious roar. One of the nearby civilians, a man in his thirties, shrieked at the sight, sending a tire crashing down from the barrier. It turned towards the frightened man, eyes glowing at the scent of fear in the air.

"No! Stay away!" The man hollered once more, falling flat on his bum and backing away as the creature of Grimm treaded towards him. "Stay away!" The monster didn't heed his warning. He threw a nearby rock at the thing. It bounced off without a fuss. The Ursa's right above him now. "Oh gods, please no, help me gods!" It raised a paw, and he recoiled. "Help—!"

A pillar of ice pierced through the Ursa's chest, killing it instantly. I reached the man a moment later, pulling him up to his feet. "It's okay!" I yelled. "I'm here! Don't worry about the Grimm! Keep going and finish the barricade!" The shocked man didn't say a word, giving me a single nod before rushing to pick up his material.

I muttered a curse. That was close. Way too close, in fact. We can't let the Grimm get that close to the civilians. We can't afford the wave of panic that can send through the volunteer group. But we need more firepower. Enough that the Grimm can't even make it to the surface.

My eyes flickered back. Current progress on the barricade is… decent. There's roughly a tenth of it fully erected. Enough so that we can put gunners in place to kill the Grimm before they surface. And the foundation is getting close to completion.

On top of the incomplete barrier were Sky and Dove, firing into the abyss alongside a group of four Atlesian soldiers with machine guns. And that's not counting the Atlesians lined against the wall, gunning down any creatures that managed to gain purchase on the edge. Dazzling streaks of light flew into the hole, piercing through the darkness within. Silence no longer exists, replaced by the constant dying cries from the creatures of Grimm, followed by the wet sounds of ichor splattering within. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, and they did were doing a good job at culling the horde.

Despite all that… I bit my lip looking at the monstrous claws raking against the lip of the hole, some managing to gain purchase. A significant amount of Grimm yanked themselves up to the surface, roaring at the rounds bouncing off their armor. The Atlesians fight well and fight bravely. But gods… the fact that there are still Grimm breaking through is not a good sign. I gritted my teeth. I didn't think I would say this… but now I really, really wished we had more Atlesian Knights to support us.

One of them, a three-meter tall Creep, turned to stare at me. I guess I'm up again. I twirled my blades in my hand, widening my stance as it approached. Gods, another one. I sighed. Let's just get this over with—

A solid 'clunk' sound rang through the plaza. The Creep fell to the ground, revealing a panting Cardin. Oh… never mind, then. We exchanged nods before Cardin rushed towards a Beowolf.

Around the arena, each Huntsman was going all out. The man in gray straight up cleaved through a different Beowolf's body with a single swing. He took just enough time to comb through his hair before jumping back into the fray. The Schnee-looking woman absolutely flew around the breach, scoring through the horde of Boarbatusks and sending a splattering of the black liquid flying. I puckered my lips. Good thing we didn't have to fight her. I don't want to think about fighting somebody with her skills.

But Amber… holy cow, Amber somehow is on a different level. This Huntress would be the picture next to the definition of grace. She is an absolute master at using Dust to her advantage. Fire Dust, Wind Dust, Ice Dust, Lightning Dust: it didn't matter what element she was using. With a swing of her staff, she easily combined each element and used them to rip through the Grimm with a frightening amount of efficiency. And best of all, it seemed like the Dust crystal on the top of her staff never ran out. I'd love to learn some tricks from her.

… I'm not falling for her, I swear.

I spotted a Beowolf that managed to slip through the cracks. My knife flashed with a practiced twirl. Let's take care of this one. Before it could even react, I was already on it, ramming both of my daggers into its back and yanking right, pulling it away from the civilians. One yank up sent my blade through its spinal cord, killing it instantly.

Whew. Another close call. I should probably pay more attention to this stuff. I let out a sharp gasp and looked at the in-progress barricade. With a unified grunt, the citizens pushed the final car up right then and there, finishing the foundation. Already they moved to fill in the gaps with removed tires and scrap metal. Maybe twenty percent of the second layer has been built now. The one Sky, Dove, and the Atlesian soldiers were standing on. Already we had some soldiers move from the ground floor to their perch, erecting turrets and bringing more firepower to the table.

Thinking about it now, this isn't too bad. I cleared my parched throat, climbing on an overturned car to catch my breath. I can feel my body start to creep towards its limit, and it looks like Cardin's in the same situation. But the other Huntsmen and Amber were still going strong. And thankfully, it's just the weak swarm-type Grimm we're fighting against and the occasional Ursa. If we can get the rest of the barricade up, that should be enough to entrap the Grimm. I nodded my head. Okay… We can do this. This is hard, but manageable. We just need to hold on long enough to—

A giant shadow enveloped us all of a sudden. Huh? It just went dark, like the gods turned off the moonlight… Did the Atlesians finally bring in their warships to help us? I glanced up… and my jaw dropped at the sight. Flying above us was… I don't even know how to describe it. It reminded me of a bat and a horned lizard combined together, then made a hundred thousand times bigger. That thing must rival the size of Atlas's airships! Its eyes glowed alongside what looked like a gem piece on top of its forehead. Pale red wings swung through the air, the monster strolling through the night sky.

I swallowed my saliva. Beads of sweat rained down my neck. Oh my gods… that thing's huge! Describing it as a dragon would be overstating the scariness of fictional dragons. This thing was nothing short of a demon. At this point, everybody else started to look up at the sudden object in the sky. Even the Grimm paused their attack to observe the flying monstrocity above us. Cries of terror rang out from behind the barrier. I resisted the urge to join them.

"Holy—" The scruffy Huntsmen muttered out loud. "Either I had way too much whiskey before this, or I didn't have enough to deal with this."

The white-haired woman could only nod in response as she let out a sharp breath. "Not enough. There isn't enough hard liquor in the world that can wipe the sight out of my mind, let alone yours."

Run. Cower. Get to safety. My mind screamed those commands, but my body refused to move. I started trembling. A creature of Grimm even Huntsmen fear. One that has to be thousands of years old, considering the size of its carapace. Several ion beams flew through the air, slamming against the soaring monster. Despite that, the creature kept flying forwards, shrugging off the blasts. Holy— I don't think there's any weapon that'll work against that thing, let alone any Huntsmen. How are we supposed to fight against that?

It opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing screech, sending all of the citizens cowering. A long, large strand of inky black fluid started dripping from the bottom of its jaw, landing right outside the barricade. With that done, the flying monster flew away.

… What? What just happened? I turned around and looked at the glob that landed in the plaza. It bubbled and frothed, forming into a pool. I narrowed my eyes. Huh? Is it some kind of acid or something? It sorta seems as much. I don't think it'll be too dangerous, but we can just tell the rest of the civilians to stay away from it—

A muscular arm broke through the surface of the pool, causing me to flinch back with shock. Holy— what in the world is that? I watched as another arm emerged and grabbed the concrete. It's eerie watching the pool shrink as bit by bit, a gorilla Grimm emerged from the pool. A really, really big Beringel. It easily towers over the barricade we had set up. If that thing even touches the wall, that's it. We're done for. The whimpers of the civilians pressed against the barricade reached my ears. This time, I went along with them. It let out a ferocious roar.

"Hey!" Amber called out. "What's going on back there?"

"Beringel…" I muttered under my breath. The creature turned to look at the barricade in front of us.

"What?" It charged.

"Beringel!" My finger squeezed the trigger, forming a solid wall of ice in front of me. The Beringel slammed into it a second later. The wall cracked on impact, but barely managed to hold up to tons of force. It probably wouldn't survive another hit. "That dragon— It made a Beringel outside!" The volunteer group broke rank there, letting out screams of terror as they went off in different directions, abandoning the wall we had set up. And they weren't even in danger. My eyes widened. "Hey! Get back here! The barricade— You can't leave it unfinished!" That only served to heighten their fears. I cursed. Gods, why let my Stand backfire right now?

Amber pulled herself up next to me, letting out a gasp immediately after seeing the massive creature. For some reason, she wasn't affected by my Stand. "It's no use… I think we've lost them. We need to take care of that Beringel now. Oh gods… How are we going to keep this up…" She groaned, tapping her foot. "Russel, protect the civilians if that thing comes near." She brought her staff up. "I'm going to get rid of this thing before it causes too much trouble."

"You're going to kill that thing? It's a freaking Beringel! They can shrug off Dust blasts like nothing!"

"Who said I was going to use Dust?" With that, she started towards the beast, rummaging through a pouch at her side.

"Amber!" the Huntsman barked at her. I glanced over. The caped man had a massive scythe out, cleaving through a row of Creeps like a hot knife through butter in the blink of an eye. He reminds me a lot of Ruby, now that I think about it. His face grimaced as he finished off his attack by decapitating an Ursa. Sheer terror was painted on his face. "Don't do anything stupid! We still need you alive!"

"Don't worry, I have a plan!" Her hand produced some kind of dusty stone. "You just need to buy me some time! Trust me on this one, Qrow!"

The bearded man gritted his teeth. "No! Your Dust is better utilized defending the barricades. I'll take care of it, you two make sure that the barricade gets made!" Under his breath, he muttered, "I've never felt so scared in my life." Before Amber could argue with him any further, Qrow jumped over the foundation and bolted towards the Beringel, scythe in hand.

"… Tsk!" Amber let out a sharp sigh. "Gods… But this Beringel isn't a one man job… we  _need_ it gone if we hope to get the volunteers to build again." She turned to me. "Russel, we're going to need to work quickly, then. Give me your hand." When I did, she pressed the stone into my palm. "This is raw chalk. We're going to use it to create a circle roughly the size of the Beringel. I'll show you why once we're done." With that, she dusted her hands, using the ring to cover them with chalk before running her finger across the ground. A chalk line formed where her finger moved. "Come on, we don't have much time."

"Uh… okay." We worked fast, and before we knew it, we formed the circle. Amber dusted her hands one more time before pressing them against the circle. The tiny golems moved into the circle, filling it up with a lot of browns and blacks. "Thanks. Now move out of the circle. You probably don't want to fall in." I narrowed my eyes, stepping out. Wait, what?

Everything inside the frame changed, revealing an image of… the edge leading to a giant rocky chasm. My eyes widened. What the— Holy, that looks so real… And all that out of a chalk drawing?

"I found this place in the mountain ranges of Mistral," Amber groaned, her voice straining. "The Samaria Canyon… a deep chasm. It's supposedly one-point-six kilometers deep, more than enough to kill anything thrown in." Before I knew it, the drawing became real. My gods… it looks like I'm actually staring at the real thing.

Her knees buckled; veins swelled up on her forehead. "Russel… get Qrow's attention. Push it in."

"Right." I looked up, now seeing the not-so-clean-shaven man locking his arm around the Beringel's neck. "Qrow!" He looked up at me. "Over here! Throw the Beringel in!"

"Agh, can't believe you guys didn't listen," Qrow called out, still swinging forwards and dragging the Beringel towards the image. "But if it means not dealing with this, I won't complain!"

"Just hurry!" Amber grunted. "I don't know… how long I can hold a portal this big!" Her eyes started rolling up into their sockets. "I'm… about to…"

With one final grunt, he pushed the Beringel forwards, throwing himself off at the same time. The good news is that Qrow actually managed to be right on the mark, shoving the monster straight into the hole. However, right then and there, the 'portal' snapped shut before the Beringel completely fell though. Its right arm was severed at the shoulder, causing it to roar in pain. However, it managed to prop itself back upright with one hand, eyes glowing with absolute hatred.

"Oh gods, that's not good," Qrow muttered. "I guess we just have to try this again. Come on, let go." I nodded, but we got no response from Amber. "Amber?" Qrow and I glanced down, only to gasp when we saw Amber lying on the floor. "Amber!"

The man rushed over to her and checked her heartbeat. "She's still breathing, and her heart's still beating," he confirmed. "I guess she fainted. But gods… that's one Huntress down." Qrow pulled Amber over his shoulders, stood up, and glanced at the enraged Beringel. "And we still got one big gorilla to fight."

I gritted my teeth. He's right. What in the world are we going to do with Amber down?

"Are you guys done with the Beringel, yet?" Cardin called out from inside the barricade. Several thunking noises followed his voice. "There's a ton of these guys around! I don't know how long I can hold up against these Grimm alone!" Above him, the Atlesians were also slowing down. I can feel the miasma of fear coming from them. It's as if they're ready to bolt. And the civilians are scattered… Oh gods, why did it have to come to this? If it wasn't for my Stand, this wouldn't have happened—

My eyes widened. But my Stand can fix it as well. I shook my head. I can't believe I'm thinking this right now… but it's the only option I have. I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around my neck. If everyone's all scattered up, I have to rally them. If the people are scared, I need to replace that fear with something else. I stood up. It's time for  **「** **FEEL GOOD INC** **」**  to truly shine.

A pulse flew through the area from my Stand. Everyone straightened up the moment the pulse hit them. " _We will not surrender,_ " I thought. The civilians running away stopped in their tracks. " _We will not stop. We will fight back._ " The Atlesian soldiers shot back to their usual disciplined stance. Cardin let out an energetic roar, renewing his assault in earnest. Qrow took in a sharp breath, muscles relaxing as he seemingly stood reinvigorated by words he can only feel.

The civilians started marching back to the barricade, although they passed over their dropped materials. If they did pick something up, they were held like baseball bats and the like. With a roar, they all collectively charged the wounded creature of Grimm. Oh no. The not-so-good part about this Stand. I can't control what everyone does, just how they feel. And while the feelings were supposed to target my team and the Atlesians, well… it applies to everyone. They're going to attack the Beringel, no doubt. And they're going to get its attention. I started forwards. Well, I just have to keep the Beringel's attention on me.

I fired an ice shard at the creature, beaning it in the back of the head. "Hey!" I yelled. The creature turned to focus on me. "You want something to fight? That's going to be me!"

That was a bad idea. The Beringel roared at my defiance, picking up an abandoned car and throwing it at me. Jumping to the side didn't stop the car from exploding and riddling me with shrapnel. I let out a gasp as they pierced through me. I coughed out a mouthful of blood and dropped to my knees. Oh gods. Still, I stood my ground. I can't break. I'm the only thing holding the crowd together. I stared down the gorilla, watching it roar in fury as it grabbed another car to throw at me.

But before it could do anything, the crowd was upon it. It was an unfair fight, to be honest. The Beringel was fighting on two fronts: Qrow dealing a ton of damage on one end, the civilians harassing it and taking cheap shots wherever they could. The creature was absolutely confused, instantly overwhelmed by attackers at all angles. It dropped the car. But before it can swing at a person, I fired off an ice shard, pinning its remaining arm to a building. I let out a bloody grin, pushing myself to stand even with the shrapnel in my body. " _Keep going._ "

With one last strike by Qrow, the Beringel slumped to the ground, dissolving into the air. Everyone roared at their victory, including me. We did it. We stopped the threat. I collapsed to the floor. Ow… I don't think I'm going to be fighting anymore. As I was being taken off the battlefield, I focused on one last thought, and smiled as the crowd moved with even more fervor. I think we'll be okay. We're going to survive.

My last thought? " _Finish the barricade._ "

**=TBC=**


End file.
